Photographed and written by
John M. Young
I have issues with impulse control. Like this one time at eBay camp… I do hope you had a vivid mental image of Allison Hannigan, and not me, flash into your mind. Anyway, I saw this very uniquely carved pipe which I think I can call a cutty shape. The pipe was made by Monarch and she demanded that I buy it, she being the pipe, not Allison Hannigan. After the obligatory waiting for its arrival, I was able to hold the charismatic carved creature. It was better than it looked in the photos. The pipe was stamped Monarch over PAT. 19 ilegible on the left shank and -20 on the right. The below photos are of the Monarch prior to working on the pipe.
The pipe had either been well cared for or cleaned up a little for the sale. The button area had a few tooth marks and the stem was oxidized. The strange mortise and tenon showed signs of use but was free to screw and unscrew while providing excellent alignment when screwed tight. Overall this looked like an “easy mode” restoration.
Background
I first went to piedia.org for anything on Monarch. I was surprised to find the following:
“Monarch Pipe Co. was established in Hartford Con, most likely in the late 1930 by Fred Warnke, who obtained a patent on the system pipe on January 22 1935. The company moved to Tulsa Oklahoma at some point in the 1950s, after which Monarch Pipe Co was moved to Bristow, Oklahoma. The Monarch Pipe Co. also makes E.A.Carey Magic Inch and Duncan Hill Aerosphere Pipes.” (Monarch – Pipedia). I said, “surprised” because there have been many lots of estate pipes where I see one pipe that jumps out at me which just looks cooler than the others. Frequently this cool pipe is an E.A. Carey. I cannot explain why but it’s true. This pipe certainly lives up to that experience, it is cool looking. The other surprise was patent information.
I continued to Google Patent Search with the patent number from the pipedia.org site to find the original patent information rather than only the diagram. Here I was able to obtain the full patent document (for those who are interested). I will include only the diagram below.
That certainly was exactly what this pipe had internally. I did not realize that the tenon section could be unscrewed. I later tried to disassemble the aluminum internals. The contraption reminded me of a Millard pipe restoration I had done previously. In essence the smoke leaves the tobacco chamber and enters a small chamber in the stem. This cooling chamber, within the stem, is aluminum lined and has a small aluminum lined passage to the top of the stem. This passage allows a small amount of fresh air into the chamber. The idea being that the cool fresh air cools the smoke and allows moisture to condense. This condensing moisture traps tars and nicotine from the smoke and all that precipitates out of the smoke and is deposited in the stem. The smoke then passes through another aluminum tube in the stem’s airway that leads to the smoker’s mouth. The trapped moisture cannot get to the mouth because the second tube is centered in the airway above where the precipitates would accumulate. I have to admit that the concept is good and scientifically reasoned. However, the small size of the cooling chamber within the stem seems to me far too small to make a very significant impact. Were it larger, as with a reverse calabash pipe where the cooling chamber is approximately the same size as the tobacco chamber then, I could imagine it working. All that said, I have yet to try the pipe and should probably shut-up until I have experienced the wonders of the Monarch system.
The next stop was to pipephil.eu for additional information. Here I found the following:
(Rings — Pipes : Logos & Markings). Another little surprise, an English and a French connection. The stem in the photo was identical to the Monarch pipe in hand as was the stamp style. The only difference was that the pipephil.eu version must have been an older pipe from before the patent was granted as it read “PAT. PEND.”. I quickly discounted the English and French information as irrelevant to this brand.
So, where does this all lead? I think this pipe was made between 1935-early 1940s. I say that because during World War 2 the government was controlling aluminum usage very strictly. This pipe with its highly engineered aluminum and the technically skilled craftsmen needed would most likely not have been available to craft it during the war years. A second piece of information is the inclusion of small metal specks in the
vulcanite. These indicate the use of used tires as source material for vulcanite production – also frequently seen in war era pipes.
The Restoration
Things started as usual with a cleaned piece of denim on the work surface.
I decided to work on the stem right away. The first step was to file the most severe tooth dents and reestablish a sharper edge to the button.
Filing of the top tooth dents proceeded. The button would require rebuilding with cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue).
Then the bottom of the stem was filed.
I wrapped the shank with masking tape to protect it from sanding. I sanded the stem with a 320 sanding sponge to remove the outer hard layer of oxidation and any wax build-up present.
The internals of the stem was that cooling chamber. Previous experience with systems like this led me to surmise this would be tough to clean. I started with cotton swabs dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.these worked well for the threads and up to the inner aluminum tube. They were too thick to get between the tube and the side walls. I was able to get a folded bristle pipe cleaner in the space.
The fresh air passage was completely closed off. I found a small metal piece, the handle of a fly tying bobbin threader fit perfectly.
Below you can see the bobbin threader in front of the aluminum draft tube.
The spaces between the draft tube and the side walls were full of more gunk than I thought possible. There were flecks of tobacco and dried tars and smoking residue. This all eventually was cleared away.
This is the main downside of a system like this. The volume of the cooling chamber is too small to allow for effective cleaning between smokes. Perhaps if each pipe came with a chemical wash bottle like the photo below and instructions to thoroughly rinse the chamber between smokes this would be remedied.
(The stem was clean inside and out. Now it was time for the Briarville Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. A pipe cleaner was inserted into the stem to act as a handle for easy removal from the bath.
I figured that I’d leave the stem in the solution overnight and continue in the morning.
Next I gathered the reaming tools.
The PipNNet with #2 and #3 blades did most of the work. The General triangular scraper did a bit of clean-up where the tapered bore was missed by the PipNet blades.
Below is a photo of the reamed tobacco chamber.
The chamber was then sanded with 320 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel. This took the chamber to bare briar and exposed no heat damage or charring.
I cleaned the aluminum of the tenon with cotton swabs and a brass brush both dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. The fly tying bodkin was used to get into the corners and scrape yuck.
The draft hole was remarkably clean, only requiring a couple of passes with alcohol dipped bristle pipe cleaners. Those aluminum tubes are great for that.
The stemmel was then scrubbed with Murphy Oil Soap, undiluted, and both nylon and brass brushed. The brass was mainly used on the rim. The Murphy Oil Soap was rinsed with warm water. It was at this point that I noticed something odd, the depressions of the carvings were white. I figured that it was an accumulation of wax that had settled in the depressions. I ran the water at full “hot” and scrubbed the stummel with the nylon brush. My hands protested. After that there remained a bit of white in the depressions.
I wasn’t able to capture the “white” with a photo. It disappeared as the stummel cooled and dried. I returned to the workbench and scrubbed the stummel with 95% ethyl alcohol and the nylon brush. I did this several times until I felt confident that the wax deposits were gone.
The rim looked much better.
I applied a liberal coating of Before and After Restoration Balm to the stummel with a baby tooth brush and let it sit overnight.
The next morning I retrieved the stem from the Briarville solution.
After a vigorous rubbing with a coarse shop rag a little bit of the oxidation stayed on the rag and not the stem.
The solution dried and I could see light brown residue which would have to be sanded off.I went back to cleaning the inner cooling chamber with folded pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in alcohol. They picked up either a little more old smoking residue of some of the Briarville solution with old oxidized vulcanite.
I wiped the remaining Before and After Restoration Balm from the stummel using an inside out athletic sock and a good deal of elbow grease.
The stummel looked great. I wrapped the shank again with masking tape.
The button repair would be made before the sanding. The top is shown below.
And the bottom. Both sides needed additional material layered on the button proper as well as fills in the tooth dents.
I used a black rubberized CA for both the building up and the dent filling. Below is the building up of the top button.
After getting a nice even layer, I spritzed the wet CA with a CA drying accelerator.
This was repeated with the button on the bottom side.
The dents received a small drop of CA also, the next two photos are of the top and bottom.
These drops were also spritzed with a drying accelerator.
The button sides were reshaped using the file. The CA was filed smooth and sanded with a 320 sanding sponge.
The entire stem was then sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 320 grit through 3500 grit. Between each sponge I rubbed the stem with mineral oil and wiped it with a paper towel to remove sanding debris.
The stem was then micro-meshed with pads 4000-12000. Between pads I rubbed the stem with Obsidian Oil and wiped it with a paper towel.
I buffed the stem with blue compound on the dedicated blue compound wheel.
The stem received several coats of carnauba wax applied with the buffer.
The carvings of the stummel were too deep and coarse to use carnauba wax so Renaissance Micro-crystalline Wax was used.
This was worked into the stummel with a baby toothbrush.
The stummel was then hand buffed with a soft cotton cloth.
The final step was a hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth further deepening the shine.
I can’t say that this Monarch is named for being an absolute ruler or a butterfly. I can say that it absolutely rules the playground as a great looking pipe. The carvings add to the graceful shape and do give it an almost butterfly wing look. The stem turned out wonderfully even with the old recycled metal inclusions. I still have not smoked the pipe to see if the chamber and fresh air intake actually work. I have my doubts and have tested many of the war time inventions and have been quite unimpressed. Though the gimmicks probably sold a lot of pipes, it seems to me that the only “new ideas” that have stood the test of time have been the Peterson System, Medico’s filters, the E.A, Carey Magic Inch and Brigham Rock Maple inserts. At least those are the only ones that come to mind. The dimensions of the Monarch -20 are:
Length: 6.12 in./ 155.45 mm.
Weight: 1.19 oz./ 33.74 g.
Bowl Height: 1.94 in./ 49.28 mm.
Chamber Depth: 1.73 in./ 43.94 mm.
Chamber Diameter: 0.78 in./ 19.81 mm.
Outside Diameter: 1.36 in./ 34.54 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 Monarch -20.
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