Photographed and written by

John M. Young

The Jima pipe is one of those things that when you see one you just want to have one.  They look so cool and 1960 futuristic.  I am pretty sure if Captain James T. Kirk smoked a pipe on Star Trek. It would have been a Jima.  Even the advertisements had a Bohr model-esque image:

(Jima – Pipedia).  But like all things mainly fashioned in one’s imagination reality enters the picture.  I recently succumbed to the Juima bug.  Searching through the eBay auctions I found what looked to be a good example and a reasonable price, $25, and I decided that I had to have it.  The wait for it to arrive from Hudson, Florida was tolerable with me imagining shooting space aliens while puffing happily with my restored Jima between my teeth.

When the Jima arrived, I have to say I was impressed with the look of the pipe and the condition which it was in.  It looked as though it had only been smoked a few times.  The feel of the pipe was much different than I had imagined.  It felt like the whole thing was made of plastic.  I had a chat with Steve Laug recently about Jima and his quote struck me as very insightful and funny.  He said, “I have done a few Jimas and they always feel like kids bubble pipes” (Laug,Steve, personal communication)  That is exactly what this Jima felt like, a toy pipe.  I tried disassembling it, thinking that the bowl should unscrew. It didn’t.  Or maybe the mouthpiece slip off, nope.  I finally visited smokingmetal.co.uk and discovered the following:

“A plated metal frame holding the mouthpiece, an internal metal filter and the outer bowl of various colours of plastic. The bowl appears to be a ceramic material, which I have not managed to remove.

To access the filter, the barrel ( various patterns) of the inner stem is unscrewed on some models, or simply slid back on others

Mouthpiece of plastic and stamped JIMA on top and �Brevete France & Etranger� �Modele Depose Made in France�

Also available as GARLAND with the Brevet France etc stampings

Since acquiring the Garland which has all text in English, realise the bowl is not intended to be removed by the users. However it seems politric to leave it here lest other try to remove their ceramic bowl Overall Length: 144 m/m” (http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/pipe.php?page=159).  

Now I know this introduction has bled over into the “Background” portion of this blog but, I am trying to show the sequence of events as they occurred.  I’ll get back on track.  Here are some photos of the Jima and it’s condition upon arrival.

This is another of those restorations which really isn’t much of a restoration.  Sure, the stem needs a bit of chatter removal and the parts need cleaning but, that is really about all there was to it.

Background

The Alexandria Library of pipes, also known as pipedia.org, has the following to say about Jima:

“An innovative system pipe, the “Jima” (for export also known under the name “Garland” and to a lesser extent in the Netherlands) was a pipe with a silver-plated or gold-plated steel metal frame, connecting a plastic mouthpiece to a plastic outer shell that housed the pipe bowl. This plastic pipe came in a few different colors, black and ivory being the most popular and later various mottled pastel shades showing depressing sales.  While the housing was made of hard plastic, the bowl proper was made of a pressed white clay which has been mistaken for meerschaum or sepiolite. The bowl was made detachable by using a screw in fitting which could be loosened or tightened using an Allen key. The fittings on both the bowl and evaporator (stinger) used a plastic compression gasket to keep tar and moisture from seeping out and air from leaking in.

The “Jima” was equipped with an innovative filter design previously unemployed which made it an unforgettable part of the system pipe revolution that began in 1880 with the increasing popularity of new, moist aromatic tobaccos. In the “Jima” was found a filter which was made of spiral wound (sometimes double wound) “electrostatic” metal wire dubbed the “filtres serpentins helicoidaux”. It was said that the electrostatic properties of this filter caused the tars and residues to cling more readily to the filter medium. It is more likely that the extreme turbulence produced by this system caused particles of tar to fall and moisture to condensate as the smoke cooled rapidly. In this instance the evaporator worked to great effect relative to the amount of tar and moisture which accumulated in the stem.

To access the filter, the stem (plastic and in other iterations metal) can be unscrewed, by use of a spring system, or simply slid back, tilted downward and finally pulled off. In nearly every instance the words “Breveté France & Etranger” or “Modèle Deposé Made in France” can be found on the underside of the mouthpiece near the stem.

French brand created in the 1960s by Mayeux, which had a very modern look. This modern look was emphasized by the manufacturer in the promotion material. The slogan speaks of “la pipe de l’an 2000” or “The pipe of the year 2000” . The factory was sold to Chapel Frés, which became part of the Berrod-Regad group in 1987. The Jima pipe is no longer made.”(Jima – Pipedia)(I added the italics)

The above entry also contains numerous photos of Jima pipes in various colors.  The one photo that makes me sad is the photo of the “filtres serpentins helicoidaux” or metal filter.  This pipe did not come with the original filter.  The other thing which I wished that this pipe had is the screw allowing for the disassembly of the bowl from the pipe.  That too is not something common to this Jima.

The third site that I checked for background on Jima was pipephil.eu.  Here there is a single entry with three links.  The left top two links are to other pipe makers associated

with Jima.  The “More infos here” link takes you to the smokingmetal.co.uk site for Jima.  The final link, “The Chapel Freres & Cie factory” delivers you to a page which shows the building housing the factory.  This building now is quite literally housing.

This all leads me to say with some certainty that this Jima was made in France in the 1970s.

The Restoration

The Jima started out with a clean denim piece, like usual.

Since most of the required work on this pipe appeared to be on the stem, that is where I began.  I used a wood block to raise the stem slightly to allow a more curved action when filing.  I lightly filed the tooth chatter with a small flat file.

The filed surface was then sanded with a 320 grit sanding sponge.  You can see on the photo below that the stem stamps were covered with painters tape for protection.

The sanding was done to both the top and bottom sides.

The stem was then sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 320-3500 grits.

The stem was polished with micro-mesh pads 4000-12000.

I failed to photograph the buffing of the plastic stummel with the buffer and white diamond compound.  You are not really missing much as there wasn’t much to do.

The Jima’s shank, for lack of a better word, was removed by sliding it towards the mouthpiece then tilting it downward and sliding it off.  This tube was cleaned with cotton swabs dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.

The two short airways were cleaned with bristle pipe cleaners again dipped in ethyl alcohol.

The bowl was cleaned out with cotton swabs and, you guessed it – ethyl alcohol.

The pipe was reassembled and taken to the buffer for a couple of coats of carnauba wax then a hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth.

The best part about this restoration is that I can mark it off the list of pipes to restore.  I can’t say that I was terribly impressed with the Jima.  I mean yeah, they look very cool but the plastic-like feel just did not appeal to me.  It is also true that I never smoked the pipe.  It may completely redeem itself with a bowl of tobacco.  The amber plastic is very pretty and the gold accents it remarkably.  The amber looking stem brings the whole pipe together in a very attractive way and I still admit that I love the aesthetics of the pipe.  The design and engineering also are of great quality,  The o-rings seal beautifully even with their age and the finish of the pipe is good.  I do not like the slight gap around the gold rim and the amber plastic of the stummel but I am sure that is there to allow expansion and contraction of the two plastics and the ceramic bowl.   I just can’t get over how it feels in my hand.  Perhaps this makes me tactile-ist.  A new word I am claiming in reference to being snobbish and elitist regarding the feeling of things.  The dimensions of this Jima are: 

• Length:  5.68 in./ 144.27 mm.
• Weight:  1.35 oz./ 38.30 g.
• Bowl Height:  1.61 in./  40.89 mm.
• Chamber Depth:  1.31 in./ 33.27 mm.
• Chamber Diameter:  0.70 in./ 17.78 mm.
• Outside Diameter:  1.48 in./ 37.59 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 Jima.