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Tag: “pipes “made in the republic of Ireland“”

A James J. Fox Irish Bulldog Restoration

April 24th, 2025

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

You know when you see something and the little voice in your head says, “Wait! There’s something peculiar about that”? That is exactly what happened when I was perusing eBay and saw this pipe. I can’t recall if it was the photo or the header, “James J Fox Made in Dublin Ireland Pipe” that caught my eye but one of them gave me a temporary case of whiplash. Now, we all know what a pipe made in Dublin actually means but what is this James J Fox stamp? A distant relative of Wileward Ethelbert Coyote, perhaps? (Wile E. Coyote for those non-cartoon-culture savvy). Even with less than stellar photographs, I knew I had to lay hands on this lass. The button was clicked, money sent and the pipe arrived. Well, it was a bit slower than that but you get the idea. Upon arrival, I got a good look at the stampings. Top left, Fox over Special in a flowing script. This one was faint, not worn, just faint. The top right shank had MADE IN DUBLIN over IRELAND. Again the stamp was faint but only in the middle top portion. Almost as if the stamp was not flat. The final stamp was on the lower left face of the shank and it read, JAMES J FOX over DUBLIN LONDON. The photos below show the pipe as it appeared before any work was done.

This looked like it would be a straightforward restoration with no real obstacles. Yeah, the stem was oxidized and there was some weird stain on the front left of the bowl but the stem fit was great and the rim indicated that the previous owner took care of this pipe or hadn’t used it extensively.

Background

I went directly to the James J. Fox website as the start of the background search. Here it states the following:

“We have been trading in fine tobacco and smokers’ accessories from 19 St James’s Street since 1787 and our customers have included discriminating smokers from all walks of life – from commoners to kings. Among them have been Sir Winston Churchill, Oscar Wilde, British and Foreign Royalty, the officer’s mess of famous British regiments, and the leading lights of the stage, film, sport, tv, radio, music and literature.

Our world famous tobacco business started with Robert Lewis, who began trading fine tobacco in St James’s Street in 1787. James J Fox was formed in Dublin in 1881 and opened its first tobacco shop in London in 1947. Fox acquired the business of Robert Lewis on 14 September 1992, uniting two of the most respected names in the cigar world. Both companies now trade as JJ Fox (St James’s) Ltd and run the cigar departments of Harrods and Selfridges.” and about their founder, Frederic James Fox (1913-1990) “Born in 1913, Frederic (Freddie) was the fourth of five children and the youngest of James Fox’s three sons.He found himself in charge of the family business, a single cigar shop on Dublin’s Grafton Street, after the untimely death of his two brothers. Stanley Fox was shot dead by armed thieves thought to be members of the IRA in 1926, while Ronald (Biffy) was missing in action over the Dutch coast in 1942 during an RAF mine laying mission. Freddie, not content with just one shop, took the business from strength to strength. He established a successful import and wholesale business in Ireland alongside the world’s first Duty Free outlet which expanded the retail cigar business into London. He developed numerous brands including Punch Nectares, Bolivar Amado, Hoyo Royal Hunt and La Corona Policromia, and established the Astor Tobacco Company. His enterprising nature also saw Freddie acquire and develop a successful import and wholesale business in the Channel Islands; and he oversaw the origin of the business’s entry into the property markets, developing several high profile office buildings in St Helier, Jersey including Sir Walter Raleigh House on the Esplanade. Freddie Fox died in 1990. He is still sorely missed by his family, friends and colleagues from the cigar industry. Were he to be asked to comment on his career achievements, he might say :

“Not bad for a beginner.” We would agree.” (Heritage | Welcome to the History of James J. Fox)

For a far more complete history of the James J, Fox shops and their history I will refer to Mark Irwi’s Peterson Pipe Notes blog, 157. The James Fox – Peterson Small Batch Lines: An Interview with Yiorgos Manesis (157. The James Fox – Peterson Small Batch Lines: An Interview with Yiorgos Manesis – Peterson Pipe Notes). Yiorgos Manesis says in Irwins blog, “They used to make their own pipes here, a small factory for a few years. It didn’t last long, and only two or three people worked there. I don’t know if they were turning bowls, or just getting bowls and finishing them here. They were involved in all parts of the tobacco business—they were making pipes, hand-blending their own pipe tobaccos. And Freddie Fox, who was Robert and Stuart Fox’s [the 5th generation owners] grandfather, was a very intelligent, savvy man.” (157. The James Fox – Peterson Small Batch Lines: An Interview with Yiorgos Manesis – Peterson Pipe Notes). Now is this pipe one of those made by Fox?

I sent some photos to Mark Irwin asking him what he thought of this pipe soon after it arrived. His response was, “Boy oh boy! Isn’t this COOL? Does it look like the Peterson 493 shape to you? It pretty much does to me. These James Fox / Peterson pipes are really scarce. Yes, please let me know when you run the blog post, as I want to point everyone out to it as well as include at least one of these photos to help them get to your blog.” (Mark Irwin, personal email). I cannot say that I was terribly familiar with the 493 shape so that is where I went hunting.

Mark’s Peterson Pipe Notes provided me with two wonderful posts describing the development of Peterson’s bulldog shapes. Blogs 388 (1891-1919) and 390 (1920-1947) detail the development of shaps during the years in parentheses.

“Two years after hostilities ended and bringing our survey of the IFS and Éire eras to its conclusion is the fullest flowering of bulldogs in K&P’s history, before or since: the distributor’s catalog c. 1947. Three squat bulldogs, the 493, 494 and 495, all reintroducing the “Cad” name. The 170 / 175 and 150 /155 don’t appear to be different shapes, but merely different stems—one saddle, one bent.”

(https://petersonpipenotes.org/390-a-visual-history-of-petersons-bulldog-shapes-part-2-from-the-end-of-the-patent-through-the-irish-free-state-and-eire-eras/ highlight added by me). In examining the James J. Fox and comparing it to the 493 from the diagram above the shape looked very similar. Mark appeared correct but one thing which struck me was the saddle stem. The 493 looks to have a saddle that tapers slightly from the shank towards the button.This narrowing is completely absent in the Fox Special, if anything the Fos pipe has a reverse taper. Using my micrometer I checked the width at the shank, 0.72 (18.4 mm) inches and at the opposite end of the saddle, .74 inches (18.8 mm). This is far from definitive proof that the pipe was made in the short lived James J. Fox shop but it does make me say, “Hmmm.”

Though lacking a shape number, the Fox Special must be regarded with some suspicion. Mark thought it looked like a Peterson 493, and I concur with estimated measurements from the shape charts the dimensions do fit nicely. The 493 shape existed through the 1970s as evidenced in a chart and description, “This shape chart from Associated Imports point-of-sale brochure leUS pipe smokers know what shapes they might expect in non-System pipes. Note several rare, currently sought-after shapes by collectors: the XL02, XL999, XL493s, 124 and 120F.” on page 170 of The Peterson Pipe The Story of Kapp Peterson (Irwin, Mark and Malmberg, Gary. Briar Works Press. 2018, First Edition, second printing 2021. Printed in Canada).

In 1983 Peterson published a point-of-sale catalog, the Peterson-Glass catalog. I can find no reference to the 493 shape in this catalog, with only the 80S,150 and 999 bulldog or Rhodesian shapes remaining. (petersonpipenotes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Peterson-Glass-Catalog-1978-79-PETERSON-PIPE-NOTES.ORG_.pdfpetersonpipenotes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Peterson-Glass-Catalog-1978-79-PETERSON-PIPE-NOTES.ORG_.pdf)

The final thing I’ll mention here is a listing of a Peterson 493 from the Estates section of smokingpipes.com:

(https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/estate/ireland/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=239789)

So, we are left with little but supposition, assumptions and conjecture, three great words, but hardly a definitive date of birth nor maker for this lovely pipe. Ath the end of this blog I show the measured dimensions of the Fox Special. If you compare the dimensions of this pipe to the listing of a Peterson 493 from smokingpipes.com there remains little doubt of this pipe’s heritage.

The Restoration

As usual the pipe was introduced to the workbench with a cleaned denim piece. I say cleaned because though laundered, stains aplenty remained.

I began with a quick prep of the stem for a bath in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. This product was sent to me by Richard Messineo of Briarville to try. Again I wish to thank Richard for the chance to test this product. The stem was lightly sanded with a 400 grit sanding sponge.

I then cleaned the airway with bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.

The stem was submerged in the Briarville solution. The label instructions say 2-24 hours. I allowed this stem 13 hours of exposure.

In the meantime I began reaming the tobacco chamber.The tools of choice were the PipNet, Smoingpipes Low Country Reamer and the General triangular scraper (with the tip ground round).

The number 3 blades of the PipNet did the lion’s share of the work with the General coming in for clean-up.

The tobacco chamber was sanded with 220 sandpaper scraped around a wood dowel. The chamber appeared free of any heat damage or charring.

Next came the cleaning of the airway. This was done with numerous cotton swabs and bristle pipe cleaners both dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol as well as some scraping with a dental scraper.

The stummel was taken to the sink for a scrubbing with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a nylon brush. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton hand towel.

Back at the workbench the stummel looked better but the stain at the front right remained.

A wipe with 95% ethyl alcohol on amake-up pad removed a bit of color, probably old wax and stain.

The stain persisted.

As a remede, I thought maybe oxalic acid would bleach the stain.

I used a saturated solution of oxalic acid applied with a cotton swab on the stain. The swab assumed an orangish color.

After the oxalic acid had sat for 30 minutes I returned the stummel to the sink for another scrub with Murphy Oil Soap. I figured the basic nature of the soap and copious rinsing would neutralize the acid and rinse any remnants. Once dry the stummel appeared as below. The stain was vanquished.

The next day I returned to the stem. The Briarville Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover is getting darker in color. I am not sure how many stems this product is able to treat. I think this was number 3 or 4.

The stem was removed and was vigorously rubbed with a coarse shop rag. Below you can see that some of the oxidized vulcanite was removed onto the rag.

The stem looked much better.

I scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub cleanser on make-up pads to remove more of the oxidized vulcanite.

The stem was then coated with another product, Before and After Hard Rubber Balm. This product was sent to me from Mark Hoover to try. Thank you, Mark. I really like this balm for treating vulcanite stems after they have been restored. It is more viscous than Obsidian Oil and I think it lasts longer than Obsidian Oil in protecting polished stems.

In preparing the stummel for sanding, I covered the stampings with masking tape. I prefer to cut slightly irregular pieces of tape for this as they do not give as blocky a look to the unsanded areas under the tape.

The stummel and stem were united during the sanding to avoid rounding the joint between the two materials at their seam. The sanding was done with a series of sanding sponges in grits of 400-3500. Between each sponge the briar was wiped with a make-up pad dipped in alcohol to remove sanding debris. The stem was rubbed with mineral oil and wiped with a dry paper towel between sponges.

The tape was removed and the pipe micro-meshed with pads 4000-12000. The above between pad wiping was done as with the sanding except I used Obsidian Oil rather than mineral oil.

The stem was polished with Before and After Fine followed by Extra Fine Polish.

Each was applied by finger then hand buffed using a soft cotton cloth.

The stummel was then covered with a liberal coat of Before and After Restoration Balm. I let the balm work its magic for 20 minutes.

The excess balm was hand buffed with an inside out athletic sock to remove it and reveal the revived briar grain.

The pipe was then taken to the buffer for several coats of carnauba wax. I used a fly tying bodkin to remove the xa deposits from the beading around the rim. The final step was a hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth further deepening the shine.

I think this Fox Special turned out very well. This stained spot and stem were the two areas I was most concerned about, both turned out exceptionally well. The high gloss black vulcanite really accentuates and contrasts the briar grain. The condition of the rim makes the pipe look like it is a brand new specimen rather than a restored old beauty. The stampings, though faint, can all be made out and add to the mystery of this pipe provenance. Peterson product or not, it is a beautiful Irish Lass.

The dimensions of the James J. Fox, Fox Special are:

Length: 5.77 in./ 144.53 mm.

Weight: 1.30 oz./ 51.60 g.

Bowl Height: 1.55 in./ 45.97 mm.

Chamber Depth: 1.24 in./ 39.37 mm.

Chamber Diameter: 0.73 in./ 20.32 mm.

Outside Diameter: 1.78 in./ 42.16 mm.

Below is an image of a Peterson 493 estate pipe:

(the above image is taken from https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/estate/ireland/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=239789).

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.

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Below are some photos of the finished Royal Guard 522.
A Two Kings Billiard Restoration

May 7th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

This pipe is an enigma. The shank is stamped with MADE IN ThE over REPUBLIC over OF IRELAND. I will refer to this stamp as MITROI from here on.

The stamp above is faint and this was taken prior to the cleaning or any restoration work. The only pipes that I know of that bear a stamp like this are Peterson pipes. It was for this reason that this pipe was purchased from eBay. There was another pipe in the lot and it was a cute little GUILDHALL apple shape.

If you have followed this blog for a while you may have picked up on the fact that I am a big fan of Marxman, Dr Grabow Westbrook and Peterson Pipes. The number of Peterson I own far exceeds their representation in the blogs due to the fact that I have been restoring pipes for several years and only been blogging about restorations since the end of October of 2023. Most of the Petersons had been restored long before I started blogging. Perhaps I shall start to make them the subjects of the blog in the future. Below are some photos of the object of my confusion prior to having any work done.

Two Kings Background

I am not sure why I made the above bold. There is nothing on Two Kings. Nothing on pipedia,org, pipephil.eu, Google search, Google images, nothing. I am pretty sure that this pipe may evaporate at any second leaving the only record of its existence in these photos.

So, what does one do when facing questions about all things MITROI? Email Mark Irwin, of course. Mark is one of the authors of the great Peterson Pipe book.

(Available at https://www.smokingpipes.com/accessories/books/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=471478)

The below is an email exchange I had with Mark Irwin.

Me: “I’m looking forward to reading the X Pipe. Congrats on that by the way. I’m emailing you with a question: What have I found? I recently picked up a TWO KINGS (left shank stamp) with MADE IN THE over REPUBLIC over OF IRELAND. The stamps are light and dirty, as I’ve not started the restoration yet. The dimensions of the pipe are:
- Length: 5.99 in./ 152.15 mm.
- Weight: 1.54 oz./ 43.9 g.
- Bowl Height: 2.01 in./ 51.05 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.65 in./ 42.00 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.78 in./ 19.81 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.50 in./ 38.10 mm.
All fit within the range of a 105. Have you ever heard of “Two Kings”. I cannot find anything on it.

(I included some photos of the Two Kings which you saw above.)

Thank you for you time,

John”

(Personal email)

Mark Irwin’s reply:

“Hi John,

I suspect the TWO KINGS is similar to the B.P.L. pipes, i.e., someone connected to K&P was buying stummels already stamped with the MITROI, then stamping their own brand. You can read about B.P.L. pipes at the blog. I agree, this looks like a 105.

Best,

Mark”

(Personal email)

For those of you who were as curious as I was about this B.P.L. which stands for Briar Pipes Limited. I have included the two links below. They are both to Mark’s Peterson Pipe Notes blogs regarding B.P.L. and a wonderful restoration of a B.P.L. carved pipe by Charles Lemon.

Mark Irwin’s response to the MITROI stamp:

141. The B.P.L. (Briar Pipes Limited) – Peterson Connection

Restoration of a B.P.L.:

142. Restoring an Irish-Made B.P.L. Carved Bent Bulldog

So the mystery is kind of solved. This is a pipe that was based on a stummel carved by Peterson. It was stamped at the Peterson factory then sold to an unknown party who then finished the pipe and stamped it with their own product name. The time frame for this was probably about the same as the B.P.L. pipes; 1970-1980s. I think I will call this subterfuge a Peterson made Peterson knock off. I don’t think the descriptor will stick but it was fun to think of.

Well if I’m going to start imagining scenarios then here goes another: Late one evening in 1972 a group of Antarctic Atlantean terrorists broke into the newly opened Peterson factory at Sallynoggin. They were hoping that the move to the new factory had created the confusion needed for their evil plot. They loaded up backpacks with stummels from the factory floor, careful not to select any stummels stamped with PETERSON as this would prove far more difficult for them to fence. The terrorists then snuck from the factory and entered their get-away lorry. It may not have been a lorry but, I’ve always wanted to use that word in a sentence and I can mark that off my “bucket list”. They sped off into the dark Dublin suburbs. At the top secret Antarctic Atlantean terrorist hide out they repackaged the pipes and contacted their devious network of underworld underlings each would deliver the MITROI stamped pipes to Tobacconists throughout Europe where they would be stamped with the name of the respective establishment and confound MI6. The money from this illicit larceny was used as an attempt to reestablish the Atlantean State and end the exile of Atlanteans from their frosty abode in Antarctica. Yeah, where are the college demonstrators for restoring the homeland of the Atlantean Exiles?

Side note: Atlanteans were used in the above scenario to avoid hurting anyone’s “woke” feelings about real ethnic groups. No Atlanteans were harmed in the imagining of this scenario.

The Restoration

As usual the pipe received a clean denim piece after the “before pictures” photo shoot.

The first task was to ream the tobacco chamber. The PipNet with #2 blade did most of the world.

After sanding with 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel I could see no sign of damage to the chamber.

The rim was encrusted with lava. This was scraped from the rim using a sharp pocket knife and saliva.

After the scraping the stummel was taken to the sink for a scrub. The scrubbing was done with a medium stiff toothbrush and undiluted Murphy Oil Soap. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton hand towel.

Back at the workbench the stummel was wiped off with a cotton make-up pad moistened with 95% ethyl alcohol. Some remaining grime and/or old wax was removed.

I started cleaning out the airway of the shank. I poured 3-5 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into the tobacco chamber and allowed it to flow into the shank. I used a nylon shank brush to scrub the airway with the alcohol present. The alcohol was then poured into a medicine cup. I wiped the residue from the brush onto a paper towel.

I used a dental scraper to scrape the airway as much as I could . Tar removed by scraping reduces the scrubbing dramatically. Cotton swabs dipped in alcohol were used to further scrub the airway and remove excess alcohol. I repeated the scraping, alcohol/nylon shank brush scrubbing several times.

Eventually the airway was cleaned.

After the shank I set to work on cleaning the airway of the stem. Bristle pipe cleaners were dipped in alcohol and used to scrub the airway. I could get the nylon shank brush into the airway from the tenon end of the stem but not through the button. I scrubbed with the brush as well.

Once the interior of the stem was cleaned I sent the stem to deox. Okay, that means that I submerged the stem into the Before and After Deoxidizing solution. (deox). Normally I’ll leave a stem in for 2-6 hours. This time I forgot about it and left it in for about 20 hours.

With the stem in deox, I returned attention to the stummel. The rim needed a light topping. This was done with a piece of 220 sandpaper laid flat on a countertop. I used a circular motion and rotated the stummel 90 degrees every 3-4 circles. This was done to keep the pressure equally distributed around the entire rim. The 220 sanding was repeated with 400.

That was a much improved rim.

The extra time in deox had me a bit worried. I don’t normally forget stems. My name or what I was doing at that moment, yes, but not stems. What was I talking about again? Oh yeah, the stem in deox. 20 hours later I let the stem drip excess solution back into the deox jar.

I like to use a coarse shop rag to wipe the deox solution from a stem. It absorbs the excess solution and is a bit more abrasive for removing oxidized vulcanite.

Below you can see the rag stained with brown oxidized vulcanite.

The stem was then scrubbed with Soft Scrub on make-up pads. This removed still more of the loosened up oxidized rubber.

For a better grip while sanding the stem I taped the shank and inserted the sem into the stummel. I then sanded the stem with the sequence of sanding sponges from 400-3500 grit. Between each sponge I wiped the stem with a finger dipped in mineral oil then wiped the excess oil off with a paper towel. When finished the stem was oiled with mineral oil and set aside.

Back to the stummel. There were a few pits that needed to be filled. The below shows the largest of them. These were filled with a drop of brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) and briar dust. The CA was placed in the depression, a pinch of briar dust is then pressed hard into the depression. You can try not to get the CA and briar dust onto your fingers or wear nitrile gloves. Personally I kind of like the brown speckled fingertips. The fill was then filed smooth with a flat needle file. Usually a second application of CA was needed. This was sanded with a 400 grit sanding sponge. The sponge provided the briar dust and smoothed the fill in the process.

After the fills were finished the stamps were taped with painters tape and the stummel was sanded with the sequence of sanding sponges, 400-2500. Care was taken to not sand very much on the stem as it had already been sanded. Between each sponge the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad wetted with 95% ethyl alcohol. Below you can still see the adhesive from the painters tape around the TWO KINGS.

The final sanding with the 3000 and the 3500 sponges was done without the painters tape. The alcohol wiping was the same for each sponge.

After the sanding sponges the stummel was micro-meshed with the 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads. Between the pads I wiped the stummel as with the sponges.

A coating of Before and After Restoration Balm was applied to the pipe, stem and stummel, and it was set aside.

12 Hours later I returned and was ready to finish the Two Kings restoration.

The excess Restoration Balm was wiped away with an inside-out athletic sock.

The pipe was then taken to the buffer where it received several coats of carnauba wax with the buffing wheel. A final hand polish with a nano-fiber polishing cloth and the Two Kings was ready for the “after” photo shoot.

Overall I am very pleased with the restoration of this Two Kings billiard. It is a large pipe and feels very substantial in hand. The shape is typical of a wonderfully muscular Peterson billiard . The fishtail stem polished up nicely and its glossy black accents the natural grain of the briar. I am sure this will make someone a great smoking pipe for years to come. Maybe even one of the descendants of the Atlantean terrorists.

The dimensions of this Two Kings billiard are:
- Length: 5.99 in./ 152.15 mm.
- Weight: 1.54 oz./ 43.9 g.
- Bowl Height: 2.01 in./ 51.05 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.65 in./ 42.00 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.78 in./ 19.81 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.50 in./ 38.10 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 Tow Kings billiard.