NebraskaPeteGeek

Tag: “Penn Tobacco co. history“

A Vox Pop Superb Briar Air Conditioned Zulu Restoration

February 22nd, 2024

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

It is time for the final addition to the Penn Tobacco Company coupon pipe collection. Let’s start with the name of the pipe from the stapings. This is a VOX POP over SUPERB BRIAR on the left and AIR CONDITIONED on the right. There is no shape number. I turned to the internet for the definition of Vox Pop. According to the Cambridge Dictionary; “the opinions of people recorded talking informally in public places” and, “a broadcast for radio or television in which people going past in a public place are asked their opinion on a particular subject”. (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/vox-pop)

In other words, the person on the street interview. When this pipe was made, I’m guessing late 1940s-50s, radio was a much more important media for information. Don’t tell the Librarian but, I used Wikipedia for this next quote: “Vox Pop was a popular radio program of interviews, quizzes and human-interest features, sometimes titled Sidewalk Interviews (1936) and Voice of the People (the name is from the Latin “Vox Populi”, meaning “Voice of the People”). It was heard from the early 1930s to the late 1940s.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vox_Pop_%28radio%29). That actually helps confirm the date of this pipe and provides more meaning of the name. The Air Conditioned stamp refers to the carburetor feature of this pipe.

I am not certain of the name of this pipe shape. Henry Leonard and Thomas Inc. actually manufactured this pipe and the three other pipe lines for Penn Tobacco Company’s promotional pipes. The pipes were available to customers of Penn Pipe tobaccos such as

one of their largest selling brands, Kentucky Club pipe tobacco. According to https: //www.tobaccoreviews.com/:

“Original Kentucky Club pipe mixture. The label on the tin reads as follows: “White Burley – recognized as a better tobacco since 1867 – makes Kentucky Club the smooth, mild, satisfying pipe smoking brand with the grand aroma. An aromatic that you, and the family too, will enjoy. “Kentucky Club’s White Burley blend never tires your taste. Its delightful flavor, enjoyable taste, satisfying mildness, and grand aroma give you the greatest enjoyment in pipe smoking.”

Notes: Kentucky Club was introduced in 1934 by Penn Tobacco Company of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. In 1943 The Bloch Bros. Tobacco Co. of Wheeling, West Virginia bought the company. In 1969 it was purchased by general cigar. In the late 80’s it was purchased by John Middleton Inc. of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, where it was last blended.” (https://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/1171/john-middleton-inc-kentucky-club/?pagenumber=2&orderBy=tr.UpVotes)

The association of Penn Tobacco Company and Henry Leonard and Thomas Inc. (HLT) was a marketing venture where both companies benefited; pipe smokers needed both tobacco and pipes. Vox Pop was a brand of pipes only available as a pipe from Penn via the coupons included in packages of pipe tobacco. Penn produced the tobacco while HTL produced the pipes for Penn. Pilehil.eu explains this and three other lines of pipes below.

Brand of the Penn Tobacco Company formed in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania in 1901 by Russell Uhl († 1914) and Henry Weigand († 1942). Bruce Peters was a Treasurer of the company.

There were four pipes in the line offered by the company: the Bruce Peters (top of the line), the Silver Mac Duff, the Vox Pop, and the Broadcaster. The pipes were manufactured for Penn by Henry Leonard & Thomas, manufacturers of Dr. Grabow pre-smoked pipes.

(http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b8.html#brucepeters)

Back to the shape of this pipe, I originally wanted to call it a Dublin but it did not have the flared rim characteristic of a Dublin. Then I thought to call it a Zulu, which fits the forward cant of the bowl but this stem is straight and the shank is round, not oval. I then looked at the Dr Grabow shapes from 1960 flyers. I wanted to find a match and give this pipe shape a name. Nope, it couldn’t be that easy. Below are two shape charts from pipedia.org. The Dublin shapes, from the chart on the right, have a slight forward cant but it is slight.

That is a cant of less than 10 degrees. The Dr Grabow 65 Quarter Bent Oval Shank from the left chart has an angle of about 12.5 degrees. My computer protractor skills are still in development.

The Vox Pop has angles that match very close to the Dr Grabow 65 shape without the oval shank of the quarter bent stem. Now, this could be explained as this pipe does not have its original stem but I do not feel that I can refer to it as a Quarter Bent with no bend.

Here is the Executive decision: This is a Vox Pop Superb Briar Air Conditioned Zulu. Or, if you want to be crazy, you can call it a Zublin. I won’t tell anyone.

The blogs of the previously restored Broadcaster, Bruce Peters and Silver Mac Duff also have historical information and commentary. I added links with the names to their respective restorations. Feel free to peruse them all.

This Vox Pop was purchased as a lone pipe from an eBay seller. Upon arrival I photographed the pipe before doing any work to it.

The Vox Pop was a wonderfully dirty, well used pipe that appeared to have some very pretty briar hiding beneath 70 years worth of grime. I interpret a well used pipe as a good smoking pipe.

The first step was to prep the work surface with a clean piece of denim. Next was to call forth the plastic reaming surface and the reaming tools.

That included the Scotte stainless steel reamer, Smokingpipes Low Country knife, General triangular scraper, 220 sandpaper wrapped wood dowel and the 320 sandpaper wrapped Sharpie marker. If you are wondering why there was no PipNet its because my #1 blade broke. Apparently the translucent plastic PipNets are not nearly as tough as their older opaque versions.

The reaming liberated the cake from the briar. Scraping with the knife and scraper got down closer to the briar then the sanding exposed the briar. There was no sign of any heat damage to the interior of the tobacco chamber.

There was a thick deposit of lava on the rim from years of use and/or many bowls of tobacco. I moistened this with saliva.and scraped it with a sharp pocket knife.

Here you can see the rim ½ scraped with the scrapings wiped on the paper towel. Ew, gross.

Below the rim is all scraped.

After the rim was scraped I took the stummel to the sink. Here I scrubbed the stummel with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a medium stiff toothbrush. After the scrub the stummel was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel.

I returned to the workbench and examined the stummel for the finish that survived the scrub. There were several shiney areas. You can see the shank-bowl junction was shiney.

The front of the bowl had some shine as evident in the next two photos.

I rubbed the stummel with a make-up pad moistened with 95% ethyl alcohol to see if that would remove the finish. It did but there remained some stubborn areas.

I then tried acetone on a make-up pad. That removed the remaining finish revealing the briar grain and a couple spots to fill.

I do not know what happened during the airway cleaning of the shank and the stem. I can tell you that I did clean them but I failed to take any photos of the process. The only thing I can think happened was that I was pretty engrossed with watching the final couple of episodes of the Netflix Medici series. I know that is no excuse. One other thing, if you have watched Medici and Yellowstone, do you agree with me that they are really the same show? I mean, Lorenzo Medici saves the bank & family from nefarious villains in nearly every episode just as John Dutton saves the ranch & family from nefarious villains. I guess it is just a story telling formula that works.

To protect the stamps from the ravashes of sanding I cut strips of painters tape and covered the stampings.

Next I lightly sanded the area to be filled with the 400 sanding sponge. I let the sponge retain the dust from the sanding. The pits received a small drop of brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) applied with a fly tying bodkin. Before the CA set-up I sanded the area with the dusty sanding sponge. THe dust on the sponge combined with the CA to fill the pitted areas. This technique works best for small fills and will require a second application if the pit is larger or deeper.

The stummel was then sanded with the series of sanding sponges from 400-3500. Between each sponge I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad wetted with alcohol to remove any sanding debris. The tape was removed after the final sanding sponge.

After the sanding I used the 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads in sequence. In between each pad I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad moistened with alcohol, as with the sanding sponges.

The last treatment for the stummel was to receive a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm. This was allowed to do the magic that it does for about 20 minutes.

I turned my attention to the stem. It was in pretty good shape and appeared to only have surface oxidation and calcium deposits. I opted to sand the vulcanite with the 600 sanding sponge to see if the oxidation was deeper than it first appeared.

The stem looked pretty good but I wanted to make sure there was no oxidation present so I applied Soft Scrub to a make-up pad and started scrubbing the stem. The Soft Scrub removed a good deal of additional oxidation. After the Soft Scrub scrubbing the stem was given a coating of mineral oil and allowed to soak for 30 minutes.

In the meantime I used an inside-out athletic sock to wipe away the remaining Restoration Balm, revealing some very pretty grained briar.

I then wrapped the shank in painters tape and inserted the stem. I did not want to round the edges of the stem at the stem-shank joint.

The stem was sanded with the series of sanding sponges from 1000-3500 grit. Between each sponge I applied mineral oil to the stem with my fingertip and wiped off the stem with a paper towel.

After the sanding sponges, I used the micro-mesh pads in sequence from 4000-12000. In between each pad I applied a drop of Obsidian Oil, rubbed that in with my finger tip and wiped the stem with a paper towel.

The stem looked good but all of the airway cleaning had a stem loosening effect that I was not happy with. Yeah, I know – the undocumented airway cleaning. I said I was sorry. Jeez. Anyway, it might have been tightened up by just smoking it but then I would have to clean it all again, probably without documenting it. If this were a pipe I was planning to keep I would be inclined to apply a little bit of molten beeswax to the tenon and tighten it that way. Since this pipe will hopefully find a new steward I wanted a more permanent solution. I used a short bristle paint brush known as a “dry brush” in figurine painting to apply a thin coating of black CA to the tenon. This is done carefully and allowed to dry without accelerant spritzing. Once dry the CA is micro-meshed smooth. The stem is inserted and checked for fit. If too loose another light coat of black CA can be applied. If the stem is too tight additional micro-meshing evenly around the tenon will adjust the fit. In this case a single light coat was all that was required. By the way, the CA will harden and make you think that you have destroyed your brush. Don’t worry, a soak in acetone dissolved the CA and returns the brush to near normal.

With the stem well fit I hand polished the stem with Before and After Fine Polish followed by their Extra Fine Polish. Both polishes were applied and buffed with a soft cotton cloth. Again no photos but here are the products in question:

I have to say that this pipe is probably my favorite of the four-pipe set from HT&L via the Penn Tobacco Company. The Zulu shape is just one of my all time favorites. The briar grain is pretty, the vulcanite polished up nicely and the aluminum spacer gives the pipe a little accent that I find endearing. I am glad that my compulsive personality led me to collecting and restoring each of the Penn pipes but seeing all four together is just a piece of history that can now be passed along to their next steward. I do hope that you found something here useful in restorations of your own or had some fun reading this. If you enjoy this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. I thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Vox Pop Superb Briar Air COnditioned Zulu( that is a mouthful) and photos of the four Penn Tobacco co. crew.

If you are interested in acquiring the set of four pipes please, feel free to mention it in the comments or contact me at scimansays1787@gmail.com.
A Silver Mac Duff Restoration

February 20th, 2024

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

My quest to restore an example of the four pipes from the Penn Tobacco Company coupons or certificates continues. I took on the quest when researching the history of a Broadcaster pipe (the link will take you to that restoration). Upon discovering that there were four total pipes named in these offers, I was intrigued. Intrigued to the point where I wanted to restore an example of each.

I will refer back to the Broadcaster restoration for a history of the Penn Tobacco Company and their pipe offers and include a shortened version here. There is an interesting summary on piphil.eu regarding the Bruce Peters line:

(http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b8.html#brucepeters)

The Broadcaster had come to me years ago as part of an estate lot. The second pipe was a Bruce Peters, restored and published last week. This Silver Mac Duff was discovered on eBay, offered as a lone pipe. I had been looking for over a month for a Silver Mac Duff and this was the first that I had seen. The photos on eBay were not bad but indicated what might be a serious problem. The below photos were taken by the seller as part of the description of the pipe.

I took screenshots of the photos and circled the area of concern. A dark spot over an area in briar can indicate a charring of the interior of the tobacco chamber. This can be caused by the tobacco actually burning the briar. Typically caused by the smoker smoking the tobacco too fast or by smoking in windy conditions. I messaged the seller, showed him the screenshots with circles and asked if they could provide additional photos. They were kind enough to do so. The newer photos did not completely erase my fears but helped lessen them enough to purchase the Silver Mac Duff.

The pipe arrived within short order and appeared in the condition shown in the following photographs.

I had the first and arguably the most important part of the restoration accomplished – getting the pipe to restore. Put kindly, the pipe was in rough shape. It was dirty, dented, dinged, worn and oxidized. I was happy.

Normally, my restorations begin with laying down a clean piece of denim as a surface to work on. Check. They also do not usually begin with a stem that is this badly oxidized.

Sidenote: I take the before and after photos of the pipes with my Nikon. The camera sends the photos taken to my phone. The phone camera is used for the photos during the restoration. I tell you this because this is how I can recall the order of operations with a restoration. When writing the restoration I refer back to the phone for the sequence of events. So, no you know, even if you don’t care.

I figured that this one would have to soak in the Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer for at least 4 hours.

Before the stem would get its bath, it had to have a little pre-treatment with a rubdown with 0000 steel wool. A pipe cleaner was inserted into the stem to act as a hanger for suspending the stem in the solution.

With the stem safely submerged I turned my attention to the reaming of the tobacco chamber. The reaming tools were assembled: The PipNet with #3 blades, the Smokingpipes knife, General triangular scraper, 220 sandpaper wrapped dowel and 320 sandpaper wrapped Sharpie.

The PipNet took center stage and did most of the work. This pipe had a large chamber with most of the cake deposited on the upper half.

After the PipNet the scrapers were used to clean off the lower part of the chamber then the interior was sanded to bare briar with the 220 followed by the 320 sandpapers. There was no sign of any heat damage to the chamber.

This was a great relief referring back to that dark spot on the front of the bowl. Below is my photo of the left side of the stummel. There is a dark area but it was not associated with any charring damage from within the tobacco chamber.

Next, the rim was scraped using a sharp pocket knife on the lava. Yeah, I know it sounds gross but I moistened the lava with saliva before scraping.

After the scraping the stummel was taken to the sink and scrubbed with Murphy’s Oil Soap. The Murphy’s was used undiluted and the scrubbing done with a medium stiff toothbrush. The Murphy’s was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel. At this point I poured about 4 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into the bowl and let it flow into the shank. I used a nylon shank brush to scrub the airway full of alcohol. I then poured the alcohol into a medicine cup. I can get a pretty good idea of how dirty a shank is by gauging the color of the alcohol in the cup. This one was dark indicating a lot of scrubbing would be required.

The counter, next to the sink, is where I top a rim if topping is required. This rim definitely needed some topping to remove the damage from dottle knocking.

I would have had to remove several millimeters or ⅛ inch from the rim to remove the damage. Instead I opted for a topping and to bevel the outer rim edge.

I used a funnel with sandpaper glued to the interior. The funnel established the angle. I then used a flat needle file and further funnel sanding to bevel the rim.

On to the shank scrubbing. I started with scraping as much yuck (the highly technical term for smoking residue) from the shank with a dental scraper. I then poured about 3-4 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into the tobacco chamber. This was allowed to flow into the shank but not out. I then held the stummel at an angle and scrubbed with the nylon shank brush and alcohol. After a bit of scrubbing I’d pour the alcohol into the medicine cup and either scrape or use a cotton swab to check on the yuck removal. This was repeated several times, replacing the alcohol when it got fully yuckified (another highly technical term for something which has been exposed to large amounts of smoking residue).

I must have gotten bored with all the scrubbing and decided to work on the stummel. According to the order of photos on the phone, I then polished the silver then taped over it. Perhaps I was curious to see the condition of the briar after the Murphy’s scrub.

After taping the stamp and silver, I lightly sanded the stummel with the 400 and 600 grit sanding sponges. I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad dipped in alcohol to remove the sanding dust/sinish. I discovered a couple of spots that I filled using cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue). I placed a small drop of the CA into the pit and used the dusty sanding sponge to provide the briar dust to the fill. You can see the red stain originally used on this pipe.

Without any more interruptions, I returned to the airway scrubbing. This is not my favorite part of restoring a pipe and I have been known to seek a distraction or two. Eventually the alcohol and the cotton swabs were returning lighter colored. Oh yeah, I also used a small piece of paper towel rolled around a round needle file dipped in the alcohol to scrub the airway. That’s what you see in the below photo on the right, below the shank brush.

Several more rotations of alcohol scrubs followed by cotton swabs later the airway was cleaned. And in the process the alcohol completely removed my carefully placed tape. Like I said, seeking distractions.

More tape and the sanding of the stummel was carried out. I used the sanding sponges in sequence from 1000-3500. Between each sponge I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad wetted with alcohol.

When finished with the sanding sponges I used the micro-mesh pads 4000-12000. Again between pads I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad wetted with alcohol. I am not sure what that dark spot is in the center of the stummel below. There was no pit there and it does not show on any other photo.

The next step in the restoration of the stummel was to give it a liberal coating of Before and After Restoration Balm. The balm was allowed to soak into the briar for about an hour.

An hour later the Restoration Balm was wiped off using the inside of an athletic sock. If you do not have an athletic sock covered in white German Shepherd hair, don’t worry. I am sure that an athletic sock without white German Shepherd hair would work equally as well.

Another sidenote: Thank you to all of you readers who have told me that they prefer the black background for my before and after photos. I now know exactly who does not have a white German Shepherd living in their homes.

The stummel was pretty much finished but I still needed to let the stem soak for a couple more hours. I suppose I should go make some dinner.

Finally the four hours were up. I returned to the stem, still soaking in the Before and After Deoxidizer. I removed the stem and let the solution drip off for a few minutes. While I cleaned up the workbench and retrieved the rough shop rag I like for wiping the deoxidizer from stems. This first photo shows the stem still wet with solution. The dark smudge to the left was from this stem when it first hit the rag. I rubbed the remaining solution off with quite a bit of force. I was trying to wipe off the solution and abbrade away as much of the oxidized rubber as possible.

Below you can see the stem after the solution has been rubbed off and a couple of pipe cleaners passed through to remove the solution from the airway. It is looking much better and black though you can see the dents from teeth and small pits left by the removal of the oxidized rubber.

Here is another shot showing the rough surface of the stem after the solution. I chose to use Soft Scrub of make-up pads to see how much more of the oxidized material was still present.

The answer, a lot. The good news was that the oxidized material was quite soft from the deoxidizer solution so this brown matter came off easily. Afterwards I oiled the stem with mineral oil and allowed it to soak in.

With fresh vulcanite, I used a cotton swab dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol to remove the oil from the area I needed to fill with black CA. I placed a small drop onto the dent and spritzed it with a CA drying accelerant. This makes the CA set-up within seconds.

I filed the dried CA smooth and applied a larger spot of black CA to the area. This time I spread the drop out to about ⅛ inch diameter or 4-5 mm. I spritzed it again with the accelerant. This area was again filed smooth then sanded with the 400 sanding sponge followed by the 600 sanding sponge. Below you can still see the larger CA area sanded.

From there, I sanded the stem with a series of sanding sponges from 1000-3500. Between each sponge I wiped the stem with mineral oil on my finger and wiped it with a dry paper towel. The stem had been reinserted into the stummel to avoid any rounding of the joint edges of the stem or the stummel. The stummel was also taped to protect the silver.

I failed to take a picture of the stem with micro-mesh pads. Let the record show that the stem was indeed micro-meshed with the 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads. Between each pad I applied a drop of Obsidian Oil, rubbed that in with my finger and wiped the stem with a paper towel. The final steps of polishing the stem were with the Before and After Fine and Extra Fine Polish. These polishes were applied and hand buffed with a soft cotton rag.

All that remained was to apply several coats of carnauba wax to the pipe with the buffer.

This restoration brought me one pipe closer to the goal of having a restored example of each Penn Tobacco Company coupon pipe. The Broadcaster, Bruce Peters and now Silver Mac Duff could be checked off of the list. The final pipe arrived during the restoration of the Silver Mac Duff and will be the subject of the next restoration blog. Overall I am very pleased at how well this pipe turned out. It was rather rough looking at first. The grain is lovely with almost contrast stained features. The vulcanite polished very nicely and has that black luster that really makes the briar grain stand out beautifully. The accenting of the whole pipe with the broad silver band is like the icing on the cake. I do hope that you found something here useful. If you enjoy this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe. I thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Silver Mac Duff, a name that continues to make me smile every time I type it.