Photographed and written by

John M. Young

The sheer number of pipe shapes and brands of tobacco pipes can be overwhelming. This does allow users and collectors to specialize and find something that suits their own personal fancy. All of these options can be daunting. As an example I put together a list of my top 3 favorite pipe shapes. This list had no fewer than 6 shapes. Yeah, math and choosing were never my strong suit. Then there are the pipe companies. Many pipe aficionados dedicate their collection to a single maker. I find that I can’t even do that. While organizing a pipe rack, my official Peterson shelf has several Marxman and one commissioned pipe in it. Proving once again that I like what I like and care little for convention. That brings us to the subject of today’s blog. I am fascinated by the pipe oddities. Whether they be the crazy innovations of inventors, promotional pipes or the Brick and Mortar (B&M) pipe shop stamped pipes made by renowned pipe manufacturers. I have restored pipes Stamped with; TROPICAL PAINTS (A Tropical Paints Cleveland Pot Restoration – NebraskaPeteGeek), DUPONT EXPOSIVES (A du Pont Explosives Promotional Pipe Restoration – NebraskaPeteGeek), BRIARS ‘N’ Blends (A Briars ‘N’ Blends (Comoy’s 409) ¼ Bent Bulldog Restoration – NebraskaPeteGeek) and TELFORD’S (A Telford’s Canadian Restoration – NebraskaPeteGeek). Researching these pipes is a journey into our hobby’s past and to a time when pipe smoking was far more popular than today.

This Gus’ Own Lumberman is a perfect example of that history. It was part of an estate lot which arrived here in August of 2024 from Hardin , Kentucky. I’d heard of Gus’ Smoke Shop in Los Angeles but had personal ties to the locale. The only stamping on the pipe was GUS’ OWN. No county of Manufacture (COM), which can indicate that the pipe was made in the US, but this is not always the case. Below are some photos I took of the pipe prior to working on it.

Judging by the tooth chatter on the stem and the thick cake in the tobacco chamber, this was a well loved and frequently used pipe. It also meant that it would require more time to clean it up. The stem showed signs of oxidation but the mortise to tenon joint was secure. The finish was worn, a further proof of a well used pipe. Overall it looked to be a fairly straightforward restoration. Another thing I have noticed is that heavily used pipes are frequently excellent smokers. Once they are cleaned up, I should add.

Background

I had heard mention of Gus’ Smoke Shop as one of the large pipe and tobacconist brick and mortar shops in Los Angeles, California. The search for Gus’ turned up a hit on the forum, PipesMagazine.com. The forum thread started with a member asking if anyone remembered the shop. Below is a very interesting entry from a member named huntertrw dated July 16, 2023:

“I correspond occasionally with Richard Carleton Hacker, and this is what he was kind enough to share today concerning Gus’:

“Gus’s started out as Boyd’s Pipe Shop in 1927, back when Ventura Blvd. was still largely a dirt road and horses vied with automobiles. In addition to pipes and cigars, Boyd raised and sold chickens and candy and a few other sundry unrelated items.

“Boyd sold the shop to Gus Pfender in 1937, who renamed it Gus’. Note the unusual apostrophe placement.

“Sometime before 1975 Pfender sold the pipe shop to an Englishman named Norman Fudge. Fudge wisely kept the Gus’ name – otherwise folks might have mistaken it for a candy store!

“I first began going to Gus’ in the late 70’s and remember seeing the original gas stove in the back room and the brass cash register that was sill in use. I also remember seeing the occasional chicken feather poking out from the floorboards, and Norm telling me how they got there. Although he had a reputation for being cantankerous, I got along with Norm, especially when he learned I wrote about pipes and had a collection of Sherlock Holmes memorabilia (which may have appealed to his British heritage).

“I met Jimmy and Paula Hurwitz when they came to the store and Jimmy was deciding on whether or not to buy it, as Norm was getting on in years and frankly, was tired of dealing with the public.

“Jimmy asked my opinion and I thought it was a good deal, especially since store ownership included the property on what now was now a main San Fernando Valley thoroughfare.

“Jimmy bought the store in 1985 and I continued to be a regular customer and even put the photo I took of the store in at least one of my books.

“I lived in the same area, as did a number of pipe smoking movie celebrities. with whom I became friends. William Conrad gave me one of his beloved Charatans (which I still have) and David Rose, the musician and I shared both pipe and train hobbies.

“An interesting side-note: David had an unusual triangular pipe rack he had purchased in London. I tried to buy it but he wouldn’t sell. When he died in 1990 Jimmy bought it and resold it to me – at I’m sure more than David would have wanted for it. It still have it.

“To his credit, Jimmy kept the old stove in the back room, remodeled the store to include a walk-in cigar humidor, and still occasionally cranked up the old brass cash register, although a newer electronic gadget saw much more use.

“Gus’ was the quintessential neighborhood pipe shop and might have still been there today if Jimmy hadn’t run afoul of some sort of California law and subsequently was imprisoned for a short while and, of course, lost the store.

“When he got out of stir he tried selling pipes out of the back of the corner liquor store, but of course, it wasn’t the same. That venture only lasted a short while and he sold socks at Nordstrom’s but eventually died of cancer some time back.

“Gus’ was next door to the Mistral’s restaurant and sat vacant for many years (it was always sad to walk by its shuttered facade) until Mistral’s purchase it, used it for the occasional private party, and now plans to open it as an extension of the main restaurant. But those plans were put on hold due to the pandemic.

“And now you know ‘the rest of the story.’”

Thank-you, Mr. Hacker!” (Gus’s Smoke Shop :: Pipe Tobacconists – B&M’s and Internet Retailers :: Pipe Smokers Forums of PipesMagazine.com). Thank you Mr. Hacker, indeed. In that same forum thread there was another mention of an LA Times news piece. I found an archived copy of that article and included it below.

Pipe Dreams

By JAMES RICCI

Dec. 27, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SHERMAN OAKS — Here at Jim Hurwitz’s shop, as at hundreds of others like it, the redemption of the American male quite possibly is underway.

Before joining in the praising, however, you’ll have to put health considerations aside for a time, for Hurwitz’s place is a tobacco shop.

In the last year or two, sales of pipes and pipe tobaccos at his Gus’ Smoke Shop on Ventura Boulevard have begun ticking upward. Tobacconists in other parts of the country also report the trend, for the first time this generation.

This can mean only good things for the XY-chromosome contingent, not to mention those of the XX variety who must truck with them.

Unlike the case with cigarettes and cigars, no one keeps national aggregate figures on pipe sales, but “pipe sales have been increasing,” affirms Bill Fader, the Baltimore-based executive director of the Retail Tobacco Dealers of America, “especially in the case of the better, more expensive pipes, the ones that go for $100, $150, $300 and up, because they’re almost works of art.”

Along with the years-old cigar mania, this is more good news for Gus’ Smoke Shop, which has weathered many another trend, both up and down, in its seven decades.

Gus’, Hurwitz claims, was the first business to open on Ventura Boulevard and is the oldest tobacconist in Los Angeles. Founded in 1927 as Boyd’s, a store that sold candy and live chickens as well as tobacco, the business occupies its original premises.

The eponymous Gus Fender bought the store in the 1940s and sold it a couple of decades later to Norm Fudge. Hurwitz, a dedicated customer, bought it from Fudge in 1985. “I always thought Norm Fudge was Gus,” says Hurwitz, a heavyset man of 46 given to baggy jeans and untucked jerseys. “I guess whoever is behind the counter is Gus–and now I am Gus.”

Gus’ contains two walk-in humidors for cigars and specialty cigarettes, but the dense, moist aromas of more than 30 hand-blended pipe tobaccos in large, glass jars dominate the wood-paneled store. Sweet Virginia, spicy perique, sultry Latakia–these and other leaves vie for a visitor’s olfactories. Many of the mixtures are assembled according to recipes handed down from Gus to Gus to Gus.

More than 600 pipes are arrayed on various shelves and in a glass display case. These range in price from $30 to $3,500, the latter for a massive 1960s-vintage, gold-trimmed example from famed manufacturer GBD. Many of the great names in pipes are represented–Peterson of Ireland, Stokkebye of Denmark, GBD and Ashton of England, Savinelli and Ser Jacopo of Italy.

Although some meerschaums–cool-smoking, delicate pipes of white clay–are displayed, the majority are of briar, which comes from the roots of heath trees that grow in Mediterranean locales. Mediterranean briar, properly cured and dried, is prized for its hardness and the eye appeal of its grain.

Increasingly, people buy pipes simply as objects of beauty, Hurwitz says. Some buyers don’t even smoke. The thriving business Gus’ does repairing and reconditioning vintage pipes further indicates the new collectible cachet of pipes.

The increase in pipe sales, however, is not just another manifestation of affluent American thing-gathering. A small but significant percentage of those caught up in the cigar mania, which brought on inflated prices and supply shortages, have begun to smoke pipes, Hurwitz reports. Virtually all pipe smokers are male.

Wherein lies the potential for redemption.

“Cigarette smoking is an addictive, nervous smoking, and cigar smoking has the connotation of aggressive display and success,” Hurwitz offers. “Pipe smoking is more philosophical, i.e., associated with the professor type, much more laid-back. With even a very good, expensive cigar, you light it, burn it and it’s gone. But a pipe you can use for years. Pipe smoking is about the art of smoking. Everything else is about consumption.”

Hurwitz and his salesmen give new pipe smokers a short course in the fine points of the art: How to choose a style of pipe. How to load and light it. How to keep it from going out. How to break in a pipe and how to care for it.

Clearly, when a man commits to a pipe, he is committing to an altered form of being that values deliberateness, skill, patience and sitting more or less still for a while (it being hard to do much of anything else, especially anything exertive, when smoking a pipe).

Pipe smoking also is a turning away from massed-produced sameness. It feeds a man’s appetite for his own individuality, since the types and characteristics of pipes and of the tobaccos that can be stuffed in them are practically innumerable.

“If you take the band off a cigar, you many times don’t know what brand you’re smoking,” says Fader of the tobacco retailers. “A corona cigar is a corona cigar. A robusto is a robusto. Not so with pipes. They’re dramatically varied in appearance and style.”

In short, these new pipe smokers, like pond frogs who sense change in the environment before other species, may be the first to tune into an emerging male zeitgeist.

Maybe the American male who’s held psychological sway over society the last decade and a half–the compulsive, hard-driving, fire-breathing guy on the make–is about to retire from sheer exhaustion.

His successor looks like he might turn out to be a more reflective chap. A guy who won’t be quite so hard on the tire treads. One who doesn’t even have to inhale to appreciate existence.” (Pipe Dreams – Los Angeles Times)

Well that was all good information but who made this pipe for Gus’? Fine question, that. Unfortunately I had very little to go on. I initially thought it looked like a Stanwell pipe. You know, that whole, “looks like a duck” train of thought. I asked my best source for Stanwell questions, Sascha Mertens, if he thought it might be a Stanwell. His reply was, “I don’t think it’s a Stanwell because of the stem. This is quite an unusual bite.” (personal communication). Strike one.

I knew I had seen a stem very similar to that recently. I looked back through this year’s restorations and there it was – the Marseille Volcano (A Marseille Oval Shank Volcano Restoration – NebraskaPeteGeek). Below is a photo I took while working on the stem.

Very similar, eh?

Well the Marseille Volcano was another near bust for background information. All I can speculate about this pipe is that the stem looks similar to French-made pipes. As for the year of production, that too is all speculation. Based on the styling, I would say 1970s.

The Restoration

After the “before” photos our patient made its way to the workbench and a somewhat clean denim piece.

I started with the reaming. PipNet with #2 and #3 blades, the General triangular scraper and the Smokingpipes Low Country reamer.

Yeah there was quite a thick cake with this pipe.

Even the clean-up produced a pile.

The tobacco chamber was sanded with 220 sandpaper with a finger and 320 wrapped around a wood dowel.

The bare briar sanded chamber showed no signs of any heat damage. Apparently that layer of cake did its job protecting the briar.

I was dreading this next part and was very surprised when the shank was pretty clean. Normally a pipe with that much cake would have a filthy airway, this one was not too bad. I used the Cleen-Reem shank drill and it passed easily. A shank brush dipped in 99% ethyl alcohol also returned only slight stains on the paper towels.

Further cleaning with bristle pip cleaners also did not indicate a terrible airway. I was very glad to know the previous owner kept a relatively clean pipe.

I couldn’t accept the cleanliness of the shank and thought it certainly must have been a fluke. I therefore decided to give the pipe a cotton-alcohol soak. The tobacco chamber and shank were stuffed with cotton and I prepared 10 ml of 99% ethyl.

The alcohol was pipetted into the shank and bowl with a disposable pipette until the cotton was saturated. This would sit for several hours as the alcohol evaporated.

I turned my attention to the stem. More dirty than the shank but not terrible. Bristle pipe cleaners with more alcohol did the trick. Some of the tooth chatter was removed by filing the area with a small flat file.

There was one large toothmark that defiled removal with a file.

The stem went onto the Briarville Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover (deox).

The next day I removed the cotton from the bowl and shank. The shank cotton was far more discolored than that of the bowl.

The shank was cleaned again with bristle pipe cleaners and alcohol to remove any tar that remained.

The rim showed some lava or accumulated smoking residue in the rustication.

I took the stummel to the sink for a scrub with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a nylon brush.

I then worked the rim with a brass brush to get rid of the stubborn lava on the rim. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton hand towel.

Back at the workbench the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad dipped in 99% ethyl alcohol. Some of the black dye came off. This was expected.

The newly cleaned rim showed no signs of charring. Yay!

The side panels had beautiful grain but the rusticated area was rather worn. I thought about leaving the pipe in this condition then though, “no, you should restore it to how it looked, factory fresh”.

I sanded the side panels with 400-1000 grit sanding pads.

Using black Fiebing’s Leather Dye and a paintbrush, I carefully reapplied the black dye to the black portions of the stummel.

This was a slow and careful process.

The remaining areas were re-dyed with a folded pipe cleaner and the black dye.

As the dye was drying I went to retrieve the stem for deox. The last two stems I have used the Briarville deox on have emerged with a tan crust. I am now wondering if I need to replace this solution. It has been used on many stems since last April, when the kind folks at Briarville sent it to me to try. I vigorously rubbed the stem with a coarse shop rag to remove the crust and any softened vulcanite.

I took the stem to the workbench and started scrubbing it with Soft Scrub cleanser on make-up pads. This produced pads well covered with oxidized vulcanite and the stem started to look better.

The stem was sanded with 400-1000 grit sanding sponges. You can see the two dents on the top side of the stem in the photo below.

And the one large dent on the button side of the stem.

All of these dents had very smooth edges. These smooth edges led me to fear that normal fills with cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) would risk the fills chipping and coming loose. To remedy this, I thought that deepening the dent with a 2 mm drill bit would provide far better surface area for the CA to adhere to.

I drilled a series of holes into the dented surface of the stem.

I used a “Rubber Toughened” black CA for the fill. The CA was applied using the tip of a fly tying bodkin. I also applied a line of the CA to the edge of the button.

The same was done for the top side of the stem.

The CA was allowed to dry or set on its own for an hour. The below two photos who the resulting cured CA.

The CA was then filed smooth with a small flat file the the stem was worked with a series of sanding sponged from 400-3500 grit. Between each sponge I rubbed the stem with mineral oil and wiped it with a paper towel. After the final sponge I applied a coat of Obsidian Oil to the stem.

The stem was then taken to the buffer where I buffed it with white compound on a dedicated white compound wheel.

The masking tape was removed and I cleaned the pipe of any buffing compound. I returned to the buffer to apply several coats of carnauba wax to the pipe.

The final step was a hand buffing of the pipe with a microfiber polishing cloth.

I would love for this pipe to go to someone who has fond memories of Gus’ Smoke Shop. It is a lovely old pipe and it should provide years of service. The black dye turned out very nicely and is a lovely contrast to the smooth side panels. The grain present on the sides is also very pretty. The stem turned out well but I do admit that some browning of oxidation can still be seen in very bright light. In normal room light it remains undetectable. The stem fills are nearly unnoticeable without a very close examination.

The dimensions of this Gus’ Own Lumberman are:

Length: 5.74 in./ 145.80 mm.

Weight: 1.54 oz./ 43.66 g.

Bowl Height: 1.79 in./ 45.47 mm.

Chamber Depth: 1.61 in./ 40.89 mm.

Chamber Diameter: 0.80 in./ 20.32 mm.

Outside Diameter: 1.54 in./ 39.12 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.