I don’t understand how the red in pipes is so difficult to capture in photographs. The oxidation is easy to capture and this stem had plenty of that. The rim was coated in a layer of lava indicating a fair amount of use but the tobacco chamber was pretty clean. Perhaps the previous owner liked to keep the cake to a minimum but was not concerned about rim maintenance. I did not like the look of the clear coat on the pipe and hoped that would be easily removed. Overall this looked like a straightforward restoration.
Background
I can barely say anything about this pipe. Pipedia.org has nothing on Marseille. Pipephil.eu has the following:
Which, in all honesty, is the same as nothing. The pipe has no country of manufacture (COM) stamp but, if I were a betting man, I’d bet on France. Marseille makes me think of Marsielle Marso but I kind of dislike bringing that up due to the dislike of mimes in general by AMericans. At least in my experience mimes are not appreciated.
Smokingpipes.com has two old estate pipe listings. One by Butz-Choquin
Both Butz-Choquin and Chacom are French pipe makers although the lack of any maker’s stamps or COM on the Marseille at hand opens any conclusion I make to pure speculation.
The Restoration
This is the second pipe of the double restoration. The first was the E. Wilke Squashed Apple. If you missed that restoration there is the link. I said in that one that I do not normally like to work on more than one pipe at a time. Anyway, here is the Masrielle situated on a clean denim piece.
I lightly sanded the stem with a 400 grit sanding sponge. I was careful to avoid the stem logo.
Next the tooth marks were filed smooth with a small flat file.
The stemairway was cleaned with 95%ethyl alcohol and pipe cleaners. The button was a little bit constricted so I used a Vermont Freehand Slot Funneling Tool to clean up the slightly off-center drilling. I also used a piece of emery board (fingernail file) to sand the airway at the button.
The stems of both project pipes were suspended in Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer (deox). The stems were left in the solution for four hours.
I returned to the stummel and cleaned out the airway within the shank. 95% ethyl alcohol with cotton swabs and a nylon shank brush were the tools of choice here.
Next came the ream team: The PipNet with #2 blades, the Smokingpipes Low Country Reamer and the General triangular scraper with the tip ground off, round were called up for duty.
They all served valiantly with the PipNet doing the lion’s share of the work.
Once sanded Chuck marks within the tobacco chamber could be observed. This told me that the pipe, though used, had not experienced a lot of use.
The stummel made her way 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.
The scrubbing did not remove the lava from the rim as well as I had hoped. Back at the workbench a wipe with ethyl alcohol on a make-up pad barely touched the clear coat and the lava.
The rim required a bit of scraping with a sharp knife. Saliva was applied to soften the deposits on the rim prior to and during the scraping.
It was looking better.
The problem with a good scraping was what it uncovered. The absence of the lava highlighted some dings on the rim. Topping would be my solution to this.
I wondered if wiping the stummel with acetone on a make-up pad would be sufficient to dissolve away the clear coat.
The acetone was working but oh, so slowly.
Light sanding helped etch the coating but it was still a slow process.
I decided to give the stummel a 30 minute bath in acetone.
After 30 minutes the stummel was removed and wiped with another make-up pad.
The shininess of the clear coat was gone and with it most of the red stain.
The four hour deox bath ended and both stems were set up to drip excess deon solution back into the jar.
The Marseille stem was vigorously rubbed with a coarse shop rag to remove both the remaining deox solution and some of the oxidized vulcanite.
The stem was scrubbed with Soft Scrub cleanser on a few make-up pads to remove more of the stubborn oxidized vulcanite.
Both stems were oiled with mineral oil and set aside overnight.
I returned my attention to the stummel. I wanted to try to return it to the reddish brown. I assembled the materials needed to dye the stummel; Dark Red Fiebing’s Leather Dye, a lighter , a wine bottle cork and a pipe cleaner. The cork was to be both a plug, keeping dye out of the tobacco chamber and a handle. The lighter, for flaming the wet dye, allowing the alcohol solvent to burn off and set the dye to the briar and the pipe cleaner as an applicator.
Below is the freshly dyed stummel in red.
The stummel was allowed to air dry another 30 minutes at the workbench.
A second dying was done with mahogany Fiebing’s Leather dye and the same process as with the red dye.
Below is the freshly dyed stummel with mahogany over the red dye.
This too was allowed to dry for 30 minutes before lightly wiping the stummel with a make-up pad wetted with 95% ethyl alcohol.
The stamps were taped with painters tape to protect them during the sanding to come.
The stem and stummel were reconnected and sanded together. A series of sanding sponges in grits of 600-3500 were used. Between each sponge the stummel was wiped with an alcohol dampened make-up pad to remove sanding debris. The stem was rubbed with a light coating of mineral oil and wiped with a paper towel between sanding sponges. You can see in the photo below where I wiped the sponges off on the denim. It not only protects the workbench surface but is a great place to wipe sanding sponges.
The stummel was then worked with micro-mesh pads 4000-12000. The wiping of the stummel with a make-up pad was repeated as was the oiling and wiping of the stem.
The pipe was taken to the buffer for several coats of carnauba wax. The final step was a hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth.
I said it before and I say it again, I am developing an appreciation for the oval shank. It is a feature that provides a more robust feel in the hand while retaining a more elegant contour in profile. I am sure the extra briar also provides additional strength for those who are a bit more hard on pipes. The oval shanked volcano of this Marseille restored beautifully. The dye turned out lovely and the factory staining was fairly well mimicked. The stem oxidation was problematic with the loss of the logo disappointing. I admit that I am not finished with this restoration. I am waiting for another brand of stem deoxidizer which a supplier has sent me to try. I want to try it on this stem and report the findings when I have used the product. Stay tuned for updates. Overall I am very pleased at how well this pipe turned out. The dimensions of the Marseille Oval Shank Volcano are:
Length: 5.05 in./ 128.27 mm.
Weight: 1.47 oz./ 41.67 g.
Bowl Height: 1.84 in./ 46.74 mm.
Chamber Depth: 1.47 in./ 37.34 mm.
Chamber Diameter: 0.76 in./ 19.30 mm.
Outside Diameter: 1.56 in./ 39.62 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.
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Below are some photos of the finished Marseille Oval Shank Volcano.
I will probably catch grief for calling this a squat apple and be corrected by some saying it is a tomato or an author but to my eye, it looks like an apple and to be specific an Cortland Apple sans the anthocyanins and their red. Sorry, my previous life as a chemistry teacher emerged and demanded recognition. This plump little darling caught my eye along with its long shanked Marxman coconspirator. The eBay listing only had two photos, the below is a screenshot of one of them:
Those adorable chubby cheeks demanded that I buy the pair. There was a little bit of drama but I’ll leave that to the blog about the Marxman but after a few days wait, the E. Wilke and Marxman both arrived.
Below are some photos of the pipe prior to working on it.
Yeah, it had some issues but that shape, that amazingly round bowled shape. I was smitten. The stem looked like a Weber that had been left out in the sun. The pipe had obviously been smoked and showed the signs of moderate use, as shown by the charring and lava on the rim. There was also that strange dark streak of the right shank and that truly dreadful fissure on the bottom of the shank but those chubby cheeks could not be denied. I would reclaim this dilapidated doll and make her mine.
Background
E. Wilke stamped on the shank of this pipe refers to Edwin Wilke. According to pipedia.org,
“Edwin Wilke founded Wilke Tobacco in 1872. As the story goes, according to a 1937 New York World-Telegram article, he had no sons, and so he taught his two daughters, Anna and Louisa Wilke, how to make pipes and blend tobacco, and by his death in 1930 they were well versed in both trades, and adamant about only using quality briar. In 1950, when they were the focus of an article in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, they were the only women pipe makers in the United States, and had sold pipes to Herbert Hoover, Lord Halifax, John Steinbeck and others. The sisters also blended pipe tobacco and repaired pipes. They did not, however, smoke pipes.
Wilke prided itself on “unpainted pipes”, and promised that only Macedonian briar was used, without paint, varnish, plug, or putty of any kind. As of 1950, some of their pipes were selling for up to $100.00, or just under $1,000.00 dollars today. By the release of a 1970 New York Magazine highlight of the shop, that claim had risen to $500.00, or over $3,000.00 today.
The Wilke Pipe Shop was located for decades at 400 Madison Avenue and 48th, in New York City, and in the 1970s opened a satellite store in the famed Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia, selling Wilke pipes made by Steven Johnson. In 1983, the brand was purchased by pipe maker Elliott Nachwalter and his wife, Carole Burns. They continued to operate the Madison Avenue store until the early 1990’s, at which point the couple moved to Vermont and Pipeworks & Wilke was born as a mail-order business.
Carole Burns[1] continued blending tobacco in Montpelier, Vermont till July 2017. Now John Brandt looks to continue blending Wilke’s traditional blends and bringing back some of the older blends from the early days to keep the 145 year old brand alive and growing.[2]“ (Wilke – Pipedia)
Now, this pipe did seem to fit a couple of the characteristics from the pipes.org article; it was unvarnished and it did not seem to have any putty filling imperfections in the briar. I cannot speak to the “Macedonian briar” as there is no stamp indicating the origin of the briar. I still think that the stem of this pipe reminds me of Weber made pipes from the same era. In researching further I found an old Google Groups discussion of E. Wile pipes from 2002. Here the user “” started a thread with the following,
“Can anyone give me a brief history about this manufacturer or brand? I
am curious about… if this was a NY company that made pipes, still in
The interesting part came from another user named “LDaneman”. LDaneman, states the following”
“As a former employee and pipemaker for Edwin Wilke Company, I can give you a
little history. The little shop on Madison Avenue was purchased by a Stanley Becker, a jewish NY lawyer. Some pipes were left over from Wilke’s hey-day, . . . I forget the name of the Italian pipemaker who did extra-large art deco shapes.
Through the 80’s the old (80+) tobacconist still blended up on the 4th Floor and I have fond memories of ‘time-traveling’ with him. The 524 blend was better than Dunhill, and the 400 was pretty good as well. The key was an unflavored golden Cavendish and a dark fine cut Cavendish in the 524.
I started a new pipemaking workshop in Philadelphia for Wilke’s concession shop in John Wanamaker’s department store. Our pipes made national news and we shipped tobaccos to European customers. My pipes sold from $65 to $1000 but our main pipemaker was Stephen Johnson. Last I heard Steve worked for Zino Davidoff.
Steve made some sweet smoking pipes and I smoke a few of my own make with the Wilke stamp, but still own a couple by Steve as well.
I was fired under dubious circumstances. The management of Wanamakers hated me since I successfully marketed Eltron razors when they failed, pens, and really hit the roof when I began blending a men’s fragrance.
Wilke in Philly folded less than a year after my departure into the perfume business and the New York shop was sold soon after that. I heard Wilke finally vanished after the buyer was hit with unpaid employee taxes and was bankrupted, but that is just a rumor to me, . . . I don’t know if that is true or not.
Most the Wilke pipes are not especially good, mass-manufactured by a factory whose name escapes me. Unless made by the old Italian fellow (an indented tenon is usually an indication of his make) or by Steve Johnson, . . . well just forget it.
Now, I have no reason to doubt anything that LDanman writes. The pipeda.org information indicates that the location of the Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia occurred in the 1970s and that LDaneman “Set up a new pipe making shop” on Wanamakers mezzanine. This too would likely be during the 1970s. His knowledge of the company is interesting but his jumping around in time, frustrating. The part about the Weber made pipes was particularly interesting as I thought the stem of this pipe looked like a Weber made stem.
The Weber connection is further supported by information again from pipedia.org,
“The firm grew to be one of the giants of the American pipe industry focusing itself in the middle price and quality zone. Trademark: “Weber” in an oval. Beside that Weber – especially in the years after 1950 – was a most important supplier for private label pipes that went to an immense number of pipe shops. Alone in New York, exactly the same pipes were found at Wilke’s, Barclay Rex, Trinity East, Joe Strano’s Northampton Tobacconist in Ridgewood, Queens, Don-Lou in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn… Nearly all pipes for Wilke were unstained and many models, for example the “Wilke Danish Bent”, could hardly deny originating of Weber.” (Weber Pipe Co. – Pipedia)
So, the question remains, “who made this pipe and when?” I honestly do not know. I feel pretty sure of my original thought that this was a Weber made pipe, likely from the 1970 or later. Produced for the E. Wilke company.
The Restoration
As usual the pipe made its way to the workbench and a clean denim piece. I actually undertook the restoration of two pipes during this project. That is not something I really like to do but my schedule has been filled with essential time sucking activities. Okay, I’ve been doing a bit of fishing and have not been at the workbench as much as I should.
The stem required some work before I could put it into the Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer solution (deox). This will be called pre-deox and involved; some scraping of calcium/oxidation, filing tooth dents and light sanding with a 400 grit sanding sponge.
The stem was also cleaning out internally with bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.
The stem had trouble passing a pipe cleaner through the button so I did work on opening the airway a little bit. I used a tapered piece of an emery board to sand the interior of the airway.
The resulting airway was much better.
The stems of the two project pipes, the E. Wilke and another oval stemmed piece were suspended in deox with pipe cleaners as hangers. They each spent about four hours in the solution.
During this time I continued work on the E. Wilke stummel. The shank was cleaned out using a dental scraper, nylon shank brush, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners with 95% ethyl alcohol.
Once the shank was clean I turned to the tobacco chamber. The PiNet #1 and #2 blades along with the General triangular scraper and the Smokingpipes Low Country Reamer were used.
The below photo shows the results of each tool.
After reaming the chamber was sanded with 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel. The tobacco chamber showed no signs of charring or heat damage.
Next, the stummel went to the sink where it was scrubbed with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a nylon scrub brush. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton hand towel.
The scrubbing revealed an unsightly charred rim and a dark stain I thought was accumulated grime.
A second scrubbing of the stummel was done with no effect on the supposed grime.
Back at the workbench I got a good look at the two areas of concern. The charred rim would require topping and then some.
The rest of the stummel looked pretty good.
An alcohol wipe confirmed that there was no finish on the stummel.
I took the stummel to the counter where I laid a piece of 320 sandpaper flat on the counter.
Using a figure 8 motion I topped the rim removing the charred wood.
The results of the topping are shown in the photo below.
The charred area below the rim was lightly filed and I attempted to blend the filing to minimize the noticeability of the filing.
The dark streak on the lower right shank was some strange stain on the briar.
I have had good results using a saturated oxalic acid solution to bleach stains from wood and thought it might be useful for both the rim and the shank.
The oxalic acid was applied to the darkened areas with a cotton swab and allowed to sit for 20 minutes.
After the initial 20 minutes I applied more oxalic acid to the entire stummel. This was allowed to sit for another 30 minutes.
After the stummel was scrubbed a third time using Murphy Oil Soap and a copious amount of rinsing the stummel was dried using the cotton hand towel. Once dry the results of the oxalic acid were observed. The stummel looked better but not as good as I had hoped.
The darkened areas had been lightened but they remained darker than the surrounding briar.
I started repairing the blemish on the bottom of the shank. I know E. Wilke was proud of their “no putty” but that pit was unacceptable to me.
I applied brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) to the pit with a fly tying bodkin.
A dental scraper was used as a spoon to scoop a small amount of briar dust and place it on the wet CA.
The back of the dental scraper was used to press the briar dust into the wet CA in the pit.
Additional brown CA was applied to the pit after the dust had been brushed off.
A second application of brown CA was applied once the first had cured.
After the second application had cured and set up, I filed the fill using a small flat file to remove the new fill material and smooth the surface.
The new fill was then sanded with a 400 grit sanding sponge.
I sanded the entire stummel with a 400 sanding sponge followed by a sanding with a 600 sponge. I was looking for additional spots which might require CA filling. I found none.
I figured the best way to conceal the darker areas caused by the charring or staining was to give the stummel a contrast dye. I thought a black undercoat of dye might be the perfect camouflage. I covered the stamp with painters tape hoping this would prevent the dye from dying the stamp area. It didn’t.
The stems were removed from deox and allowed to drip excess solution back into the jar.
The E. Wilke stem was vigorously rubbed with a coarse shop rag to remove both remaining solution and oxidized vulcanite.
The stem was then scrubbed with Soft Scrub cleanser applied to make-up pads. This removed more oxidized vulcanite.
Below you can see the E. Wilke and the other restoration victim. Both stems had been oiled with mineral oil after their Soft Scrub ordeals.
The dye kit was gathered. It consisted of Fiebing’s Black Leather Dye, a cork to keep dye from the tobacco chamber, a lighter and a pipe cleaner as an applicator.
The Fiebing’s Dye was applied and flamed, burning away the alcohol solvent of the dye and fixing it to the briar.
The stummel was then rinsed with 99% isopropyl alcohol and wiped with a paper towel.
Back at the workbench the results of the black dye can be seen. The dye penetrated the softer grained briar more than the harder grain. A light sanding removed the outermost layer of briar revealing lighter and darker areas due to penetration depth.
Below is a photo of the sanded stummel.
The stem and stummel were then sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 400-3500 grit. The stummel was wiped with an alcohol dampened make-up pad between each sponge while the stem was rubbed with mineral oil and wiped with a paper towel between sanding sponges.
The stem and stummel were then worked with micro-mesh pads from 4000-12000. Again stummel wiping with an alcohol make-up pad between micro-mesh pads was done. Between pads the stem was runned with Obsidian Oil and wiped with a paper towel.
The pipe was then taken to the buffer where it received several coats of carnauba wax.
The final step was a hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth.
Overall, I am very pleased at how well this E. Wilke pipe turned out. Though it is likely not an example of the highest quality E. Wilke pipe of the company’s heyday, still is a lovely little piece. The contrast stain did a good job of concealing the blemishes that the pipe accumulated over the years of use. The stem polished up nicely and the glossy black accentuated the light and dark grain from the contrast dye. The thick walls and the cheekiness that they provide are even more pronounced with the finished pipe than they were when it arrived and I think it is far more attractive now. The dimensions of the Carlyle Oval Shank Dublin are:
Length: 5.00 in./ 127.00 mm.
Weight: 1.08 oz./ 30.62 g.
Bowl Height: 1.42 in./ 36.07 mm.
Chamber Depth: 1.06 in./ 26.92 mm.
Chamber Diameter: 0.72 in./ 18.29 mm.
Outside Diameter: 1.58 in./ 40.13 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.
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Below are some photos of the finished E Wilke Squat Apple.
This brings me to the bad news, the bad news is that it is a Comoy’s. I suppose I should explain, Comoy’s is really a collaboration between the Chapuis and Comoy’s families and centered in two locations, the Saint-Claude region in France and London, England. There are many names involved over a 150 year period. The various people are related and moved between countries over the years. This is why I said, “The bad news”. It is because I find this all confusing.
In a nutshell Henri Comoy was from the Sainte-Claude region. As many folks did, he followed his father as a wood turner. He ends up married and living in London, making pipes from briar. His wife’s sister provides the connection to the Chapuis name. His wife’s sister, Fanny Beausire was married to Charles Pierre Chapuis, a Swiss watchmaker. They had seven children, three of which are important to this story; Charles Chapuis dies leaving the children partially orphaned, Emile (21 years old when Charles dies), Louis (19) and Charles (15). Louis and Charles are adopted by their Aunt Anna, Henri Comoy’s wife, and moved to London. Here they are taught the Comoy family business of pipe making alongside Henri and Anna’s two biological children, Paul and Adrien Comoy. The four boys, Louis Chapuis, Charles Chapuis, Paul Comoy and Adrien Comoy are treated equally regarding inheritance within the business.
This leads to the start of the start of the company. “H. Comoy & Co. Ltd was established in 1914. It was a partnership between Henri, his sons Adrien and Paul and his nephews Louis and Charles.” (Comoy’s – Pipedia) By 1921 the company expands to the United States. Now the adopted brothers remain in contact with the older Emile. He is in the pipe business as well selling pipes wholesale in Paris, according to the pipedia.org article. In the early 1922 Emile, Louis and Charles started another company, Chapuis-Comoy, in Saint-Claude. This company serves the French market for briar pipes. I know, this nutshell is becoming larger and larger. Old man Henri Comoy died in 1924 and within 5 years H. Comoy & Co. Ltd became part of Cardogan Investments Ltd. In 1928 the two pairs of brothers created Chacom in Saint-Claude. Now Chacom can have the French and European market while Comoy’s deals with England and the US. Here is where things get weird, both companies use the same shape charts thus all the overlap in Comoy’s and Chacom shapes.
As pipedia explains, “In 1929, H. Comoy Co. Ltd became part of Cadogan Investments Ltd, created by the Oppenheimer Group, which at that time already owned a number of very important and well-known brands such as Maréchal & Ruchon (GBD), Civic & Co Ltd, BBB de Frankau, Sina, Verguet Frères, Orlik and Loewe.” (Comoy’s – Pipedia). Comoys are apparently allowed to manage their own business affairs and continue with business as usual. Of course there is an “UNTIL” coming. Comoys was left alone until the 1980s when Cardogan took over and quality went downhill.
Chacom had their ups and downs as well, with mergers with La Bruyere in 1932. Then the war, the recovery, the reassertion or market share, the regaining of their own name Chacon from Le Bruyere and eventual integration with Ropp. For the much longer version please see some of the following links:
Hopefully this all kind of explains why CARLYLE from the pipephil.eu photos is an English maker while the pipe is sporting a country of manufacture (COM) stamp clearly saying FRANCE. I told you it was confusing…
The Restoration
After all that background it’s good to get back to the easy stuff, for me anyway – the restoring. The Carlyle began the procedure with a clean denim piece on the workbench.
The airway of the stem was cleaned with bristle pipe cleaners and 95% ethyl alcohol.
The stem was then lightly sanded with a 500 grit sanding sponge and a pipe cleaner was inserted into the tenon to act as a hanger for suspending the stem in Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer solution (hereafter called deox).
The stem was immersed in deox for two hours.
The reaming tools were gathered.
The PipNet and the #1 blade was only used to clear the bottom of the tobacco chamber as this chamber was quite conically bored. The #2 blade did most of the work reaming the chamber. The Smoingpipes Low Country Reamer and the General triangular scraper were used for some light clean-up work. The chamber was then sanded with 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel.
The tobacco chamber showed no signs of heat damage or charring.
Another view of the chamber, below.
Scrubbing with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a nylon brush came next. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton hand towel.
Returning to the workbench the stummel was wiped with 95% ethyl alcohol on a couple of make-up pads. This removed some of the finish and stain.
I then wiped the stummel with acetone on new make-up pads. This removed more of the clear coat finish and more stain.
With the clear coat removed, I started picking the old fill material from the largest of the three fills. Additional acetone was used to soften the old fill material for picking with a fly tying bodkin.
There was one other large fill at the front of the bowl. This too was picked out.
The airway of the shank was cleaned using a dental scraper, bristle pipe cleaners and cotton swabs along with a healthy dose of 95% ethyl alcohol.
The stummel was then lightly sanded to reveal any additional areas where old fills may have been hiding.
The depth of the front fill was minimal and was filled with brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue).
The two pits on the right side were deeper. These were filled with brown CA applied into the pit with a fly tying bodkin.
Briar dust was then scooped with a dental scraper and a small pile placed on top of the wet CA. The back of the dental scraper was used to press the dust into the CA filled depression.
The briar dust cured almost immediately with the briar dust. The resulting fill was then filed with a small flat file.
The front fill received a second coat of brown CA. and was filed after it had cured.
The new fills had slightly lighter areas around them from the filing. I wanted to blend the color to match the existing stain.
I first used a Cherry Furniture Touch-up Marker and allowed the stain to dry. The area was lightly wiped with a make-up pad moistened with 95% ethyl alcohol.
The color was close but not close enough. I used the Mahogany marker over the area, allowed it to dry and re-wiped with the alcohol. I was happy with the results of the second stain.
The stamp was taped with painters tape for protection from the sanding.
After two hours, the stem was allowed out of deox. The drip-dry-o-matic (patent pending) was deployed to allow excess solution to join it’s jarred brethren.
I used a coarse shop rag to vigorously rub the remaining deox solution from the stem. This removes some of the oxidized vulcanite from the surface.
Back at the workbench I used Soft Scrub cleanser on make-up pads. This removed a great deal of the oxidized vulcanite.
And, some more.
The COM stamp and the “maybe” logo were taped with painters tape to protect them from sanding.
Ready for sanding.
The stem and stummel were sanded intact to avoid the rounding of the edges of each part. A series of sanding sponges from 400-3500 grit. Between each sponge I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad moistened with alcohol. The stem was rubbed with mineral oil and wiped with a paper towel.
The painters tape was removed and wiped with alcohol to remove any adhesive remaining. The pipe was worked with micro-mesh pads from 4000-12000. Again, between each pad I wiped the stummel and stem between each pad as with the sanding sponges except in place of mineral oil I used Obsidian Oil.
The stummel received a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm. The balm was allowed to stay on the stummel for 15 minutes.
The remaining Restoration Balm was wiped from the stummel using an inside out athletic sock.
The pipe was then taken to the buffer where the pipe was given several coats of carnauba wax.
The final step was a hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth.
I am developing a new appreciation for the oval shank. It is a feature that provides a more robust feel in the hand while retaining a more elegant contour in profile. I am sure the extra briar also provides additional strength for those who are a bit more hard on pipes. This oval shank Carlyle Dublin restored in beautiful fashion. The briar grain grain is lovely and the factory staining was preserved. The stem lost the oxidation without losing the FRANCE stamp though I would have liked to see the factory fresh top stem logo but that appears to have been lost years ago to wear and buffing. Overall I am very pleased at how well this pipe turned out. The dimensions of the Carlyle Oval Shank Dublin are:
Length: 5.43 in./ 99.57 mm.
Weight: 1.20 oz./ 18.71 g.
Bowl Height: 1.84 in./ 38.10 mm.
Chamber Depth: 1.57 in./ 27.69 mm.
Chamber Diameter: 0.74 in./ 16.00 mm.
Outside Diameter: 1.35 in./ 28.45 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.
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Below are some photos of the finished Carlyle Oval Shank Dublin.
You could call this little pipe a Custom-Bilt knock off. This pipe is stamped SHORT over SNORTER on the left shank. It has that very Custom-Bilt look to it but it is diminutive. It reminds me of Dr. Evil and Mini-Me from the Austin Powers movies.
The term “short snorter” according to Google Is less comic,
“Origin: The tradition began before World War II, with bush pilots in Alaska signing bills as a sign of good luck and a way to remember their travels.
Meaning and Purpose:
“Snort” was slang for a shot of liquor, and “short” meant a smaller amount, so a “short snorter” was a way to remember a small drink or a flight”.
This pipe would certainly be that, a short smoke allowed by a small pipe. Below are some photos taken before I did anything but remove the stinger.
The pipe looks to be in good condition. There were still tobacco remnants in the tobacco chamber. The cake and the lava on the rim suggested the pipe had seen use. The stinger was quite stuck in the stem before I took the above photos. I had to soak the tenon for about 30 minutes and did quite a bit of wiggling of the stinger as I held it between the fold in a piece of leather and pliers. There were a couple of spots which needed to be filled and of course the usual cleaning.
Background
I really have no idea who made this pipe. Searches for “Short Snorter” yielded nothing on both pipedia.org and pipephil.eu. The big Custom-Bilt book, “Individual as a Thumbprint” The Custon-Bilt Pipe Story by William E. Unger also makes no mention of the Short Snorter though it does discuss a marketing scheme where a person could pick up a miniature pipe and a gift certificate for a person. The person could then keep the miniature pipe and exchange the certificate for the pipe that they wanted from the retailer.
I searched Short Snorter in the blog posts of Steve Laug (it’s a rare day when I restore a pipe brand that Steve has not worked with) there I came across a restoration by Dal Stanton, “Short Snorter Imported Briar” (https://rebornpipes.com/tag/short-snorter-pipe/). Dal’s search for information on the Short Snorter was more productive but not by much,
“In the little I found on the internet about the Short Snorter, it is described as a nose burner or as a pocket pipe, but most often with other shapes than the horn. Steve looked up the Short Snorter in the book, Who Made That Pipe, and it indicates that it was made by Weber or Wally Frank. With that information, I looked at old Wally Frank catalogues, but did not see the Short Snorter. I suppose the name is apropos, but I think a lady pipe smoker would give this pipe a look see.” (https://rebornpipes.com/tag/short-snorter-pipe/)
In conclusion the Short Snorter appears to have been made by Weber of Wally Frank after World War Two. I say after WWII because of the IMPORTED BRIAR stamping which was something added to reassure customers that briar was once again used in the pipe.
The Restoration
The restoration began with the stinger taking a dip in a medicine cup of 95% ethyl alcohol and the pipe proper, getting a cleaned piece of denim.
Ithen wiped a bristle pipe cleaner with toothpaste and clamped one end in the vice. I pushed the other end through the stem and buffed the airway with the toothpaste enriched pipe cleaner.
The tooth chatter was filed with a small flat file to remove the dents.
I turned my attention to the stummel. The dental scraper got quite a workout here removing the crunchy caked tar and smoking residues. Alcohol dipped pipe cleaners and cotton swabs were also used.
The reaming was surprisingly productive for such a small pipe.
Once reamed, the interior of the tobacco chamber looked good and showed no signs of heat damage.
Next came the scrubbing of the stummel’s exterior. This was done 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 was wiped with a make-up pad dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.
I used the make-up pad to scrub a little bit more on the rim to get rid of the remaining lava.
There were two areas which I thought needed to be filled. One small sand pit where the shank met the bowl. The pit was small and I thought that it would fill with brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue).
The other area was on the rin and right side. This area required CA and briar dust to fill the gap on the rim and CA alone on the side.
I allowed the CA to cure and filed the shank fill with a half-round file.
The rim and right side needed to be retextured to match the existing rustication or carvings. I did this with a rotary tool and a small carving bit.
Below you can see where the fills look like a crack. This was only superficial and did not penetrate through the side wall of the bowl.
The re-rusticated carvings looked good as I attempted to match the contours of the original carving.
The rim recarvings were nearly unnoticeable.
The shank was taped with masking tape to protect it from the stem sanding. I wanted the stem and stummel intact for the sanding to avoid any rounding of the joint between the two.
A series of sanding sponges from 40-3500 were used in sequence. Between each sponge I rubbed mineral oil onto the stem and wiped it with a dry paper towel to remove sanding debris.
The stem was then worked with micro-mesh pads 4000-12000 grit. Between each of these pads I applied a small drop of Mark Hoover’s new Hard Rubber Balm, rubbed this onto the stem and wiped the stem with a paper towel.
The stummel then received a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm and was set aside to what I thought would be 15-20 minutes. It turned out to be the next morning.
The next morning I hand buffed the remaining Restoration Balm from the stummel with an inside out athletic sock.
The pipe was then taken to the buffer where it received several coats of carnauba wax on the stem and smooth surfaces of the stummel.
The final step was a hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth.
This little pipe was a fun project. I am enjoying practicing with the Dremel tool and improving my carving techniques. The blending of repairs to original rustications is a challenge which I find very enjoyable. This demure darling turned out very nicely. I have a Custom-Bilt with a near identical shape and seeing them side by side is quite amusing. The fills and re-carvings turned out beautifully and are only noticeable under serious scrutiny. The stem polished up very well with the glossy black complimenting the rustic carved rich brown of the stummel. The dimensions of the Short Snorter are:
Length: 3.92 in./ 99.57 mm.
Weight: 0.66 oz./ 18.71 g.
Bowl Height: 1.50 in./ 38.10 mm.
Chamber Depth: 1.09 in./ 27.69 mm.
Chamber Diameter: 0.63 in./ 16.00 mm.
Outside Diameter: 1.12 in./ 28.45 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.
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Below are some photos of the finished Short Snorter.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again, “I blame Sascha Mertens for my Denicotea fascination.” Sascha is a pipeman from Germany and has become one of the few people that I communicate with on a near daily basis. When I asked him what shape this Denicotea is, he replied “Quaterbendzublin danish Style!
This thing is absolutely danish! Reminds me of an old Stanwell….” Hmm, “Quarterbendzublin”. That looks more like some Mayan word than anything I was familiar with but, I completely see what he was saying. I think I’ll just use the “072” though.
The previous owner was apparently not aware that they were not supposed to have a cake build-up in a meerschaum lined pipe or that wiping off the rim after a smoke is a possibility. Thus started the list of things to address with this restoration. There was one ugly fill on the left side of the shank that would have to be removed. The oxidation of the vulcanite would have to go. I was not sure how well the rim would clean-up, nor exactly what to do with the meerschaum part of the rim. Oh well, it will all get sorted out.
Background
Fortunately, for me, I have done a few Denicotea restorations. This makes the writing of this section easy. I can just recycle research from previous blogs. Yeah, I’m a Generation X slacker.
“Pipedia.org has a short article on Denicotea. I will include it here in its entirety:
“Willy Heineberg founded the company Denicotea in 1932 and began manufacturing and selling smoking accessories such as filters, filter inserts, cigarette holders and pipes.[1] The company headquarters was initially in Cologne, but was relocated to Bergisch Gladbach after the Second World War.[2]
Denicotea is actually the name of a silica gel filter, cigarette holders and care products for pipes and cigarette holders.
I still find it a bit confusing as Denicotea seems to be a company[3] and a brand as well which is operated by COMPOSING-STUDIO GmbH[4].
Brands
Adsorba
Adsorba is a fantasy series of pipes produced by Luigi Crugnola for the German market.
Aldo Morelli
Aldo Morelli is a fictional name. The brand Aldo Morelli has been registered for Denicotea on February 26th, 1992.[5]
Stefan Petzuch points out this brand appears to have similarities to the Mauro Cateni pipe brand, in particular they are both fictional Italian brands by German companies, and both have the “HAND CUT” imprint on the stem as seen bellow. This may connect the Aldo Morelli brand to Gebr. Heinemann KG in Hamburg, who had registered the Mauro Cateni brand. Or perhaps there is a connection between Denicotea and Gebr. Heinemann KG, or perhaps these pipe brands simply used “Hand Cut” stems from the same source.” (Denicotea – Pipedia)
Interesting and weird are the two qualifiers that come to mind in reading that. The four makers mentioned in the article; Luigi Crgnola, Cesare Barontini, Gig and Molina are all Italian pipe manufacturers. Where does the MADE IN ENGLAND stamp on the example on pipephil.eu or the stamp on the pipe I purchased come in, I cannot say. I can say that I am not the first person to have little success researching the origins of Denicotea pipes. Dal Stanton, who is far more diligent in his background research than I, had a French made Denicotea. He traced its origins to the St. Claude area but not to a specific maker. Dal’s blog was posted on Steve Laug’s rebornpipes.com site. Here is the link to Dal Stanton’s blog post: https://rebornpipes.com/2016/09/29/nice-find-in-plovdiv-bulgaria-denicotea-deluxe-curling-bruyere-extra/”
Now for this Denicotea 072 or as my German accomplice calls it, a “Quaterbendzublin danish Style!”, the world may never know where, when or by whom this pipe was made. I wonder if the added mystique adds to the smoking pleasure?
The Restoration
Dang, that’s a good looking pipe. Even all dirty and sitting on a cleaned piece of denim at the workbench.
I started by lightly sanding the surface oxidation from the stem. I’m not sure what to call the mortise attachment piece of vulcanite that is glued to the shank. Maybe stem one, the below and stem 2 the attached?
The stem was skewered with a pipe cleaner to act as a hanger in the Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer (deox) and suspended in the solution.
Since this is a meerschaum lined pipe I relied on the Smoingpipes Low Country Reamer and the General triangular scraper for the reaming this very conical tobacco chamber.
Oh how I wish that someone had explained to the previous owner that meers could be washed out with warm water after a smoke and that cake is not a good nor necessary thing. Oh well, the scraping continued.
After the scraping and a bit of work with a 410 gauge brass bore brush, I used cotton swabs dipped in alcohol to clean the remaining cake from the meerschaum.
The lava on the rim was softened with saliva and scraped with a sharp pocket knife.
I cleaned the airway of the shank with several bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. Cotton swabs also dipped were used to clean out the mortise.
The stummel was taken to the sink where it was scrubbed with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a nylon brush. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stumel was dried with a cotton hand towel.
Back at the workbench the stummel was wiped with an alcohol wetted make-up pad. Once the alcohol had evaporated I wrapped the briar shank with masking tape to protect it from the sanding of the vulcanite part of the shank.
I wanted to preserve the logo as much as possible so a piece of Scotch tape was cut and placed over the logo. This proved tricky to sand as I didn’t want to round the edges where the vulcanite would meet the stem. I decided to give the rim top a beeswax coating to protect it from future lava and make the meerschaum more resistant to wear. I heated a small glass jar of beeswax in a pan of water on the stove top. This allows the liquid beeswax to remain liquid longer as the hot water allows the wax to cool more slowly.
The tobacco chamber was plugged with a cork. I picked up an assortment of different sized corks from Amazon and that has been much easier whenever I need to plug a chamber.
The meerschaum was heated with a heat gun then painted with liquid beeswax.
The beeswax cooled quickly and was then heated again with the heat gun. The cork remained in place. As the beeswax was remelted excess dripped off the stummel and was caught by a strategically placed tin.
The cork was removed and the rim was wiped with a clean dry paper towel.
Below is a photo of the newly rewaxed rim back at the workbench. Please ignore the photobombing S. Johnson pipe in the background.
The stem had been soaking in deox for a little over two hours. I removed it and let it drip excess solution back into the jar.
The stem was then vigorously rubbed on a coarse shop rag to rid it of remaining deox solution and some of the oxidized vulcanite.
Next the deox within the stem was cleaned out. Apparently I didn’t clean the stem prior to the deox dip. Darn old people…
The stem, both parts, were sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 320-3500 grit. Between each sponge I used Mark Hooovers new product, Hard Rubber Balm (HRB) rubbed on with my fingers and wiped off with a clean dry paper towel. Mark sent me a sample of the HRB and asked me to try it and give my impressions. So here they are, the HRB is thicker or more viscous than mineral oil. As such it tends to fold the sanding sponges more than mineral oil. A more careful wiping of the HRB from the stem with a paper towel lessens this. The fouled sponges are easily cleaned with a little bit of alcohol rubbed on with a finger tip then wiping them off on the denim surface protecting cloth. The HRB excels as a coating of stems after they have been restored. Since it is a heavier or thicker oil it should evaporate more slowly from the vulcanite. I really like how HRB works for preserving stems. How well it lasts over time is still undiscovered as I have only been using it for a couple of weeks but it looks like it is a solid competitor of Obsidian Oil and should actually last longer based on it’s properties.
The stems were then worked with micro-mesh pads in grits from 4000-12000. Again the HRB was rubbed on and wiped off between pads.
The stem was then taken to the buffer where I buffed it with white buffing compound on the dedicated white wheel.
The buffing compound was wiped from the stem and I cleaned the logo area with alcohol. I used a white acrylic modeling paint to repaint the depressions of the logo stamp.
The entire pipe was returned to the buffer where it was given several coats of carnauba wax.
The final step was a hand buffing of the pipe with a microfiber polishing cloth.
I think this Denicotea Quaterbendzublin Danish Style!, hmm, I just can’t do that. I think this Denicotea 072 turned out beautifully. The visual appeal is very much to my liking. The light weight along with the bend make it a very comfortable pipe to clench and the longer stem keeps the smoke out of my eyes. Though not uncomfortable in hand the pipe does not fit into my hand as well as many others. The rustications add character and seem perfect for the shape with the briar grain on the right side matching the lines of the rim. The stem polished up very well with its high gloss black accentuating the rustic mahogany of the briar. The dimensions of the Denicotea 072 are follows:
Length: 5.06 in./ 128.52 mm.
Weight: 1.42 oz./ 40.26 g.
Bowl Height 2.00 in./ 50.80 mm.
Chamber Depth: 1.60 in./ 40.64 mm.
Chamber Diameter: 0.67 in./ 17.02 mm.
Outside Diameter: 1.68 in./ 42.67 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. This one is going in the personal collection.
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Below are some photos of the finished Denicotea 072.
I love it when an attractive pipe comes across the bench that is stamped with a rather obscure maker. In this case S. Johnson and SFJ on the stem as well. Pride in workmanship and putting one’s name on a pipe is something that I find interesting. I’d never heard of S. Johnson and I have to say that this pipe was not the focus of purchasing the estate lot which it was featured in. The entire lot looked interesting and I couldn’t believe that I was the only bidder. Below is the original eBay listing photo.
The lot came to me from Ipswich, Massecheutets (dang, I can’t believe I spelled that right the first time) in mid-January of 2025. I guess not everyone gets excited about oxidized broken pipes with one missing a stem. The S. Johnson pipe had a broken acrylic stem and a reverse tenon. The stampings on the pipe were: S. JOHNSON over XXQ offset 8 on the left shank, HANDMADE over U S A on the right shank and SFJ stamped on the stem with a gold paint filling the impressed stamping. Below are some photos of the S. Johnson pipe prior to work. I was trying a white background for the initial photography of this restoration. I am unsure but generally not liking the white. Please feel free to comment.
The issues with this pipe seemed to increase upon close examination. The obvious ones were the chipped mortise and tooth marks on the stem. The plug on the bowl would require some serious investigation regarding the condition of the tobacco chamber but it looked as if it were professionally done. The reason why it was done is the thing which worried me. The exterior of the stummel looked great. I guess I need to focus on the positives and be glad I don’t have to worry about oxidized vulcanite.
Background
I was glad to see that there was information on S. Johnson on both of my “go to” pipe researching sites. I first found him mentioned on pipephil.eu. There I discovered the S. stood for Steve. Below is the pipephil.eu information.
Research stop number two was pipedia.org. Here I found a short entry and have included it in its entirety:
“Steven Johnson made his first pipe at the age of 9, as a friend had accidently dropped his pipe in a stream while fishing. This is according to an article in the Boca Raton News on May 16, 1982. It says further that by the age of 20 he had become a master pipe maker. He worked as the manager of the E. Wilke pipe shop, since 1977 was located in a large department store called John Wanamakers in Philadelphia. For his own pipes he’s reported to have produced 3 pipes a day, 6 days a week. His pipes are rare to find and are marked S. JOHNSON.
Richard Esserman, in an article entitled “Pipe Travels”, wrote of meeting Steve Johnson in 1978 at Wanamaker’s. At the time Johnson made pipes for Wilke’s in a small room right in the middle of the department store. The two became friends, and Esserman comments on one pipe going to the Wilke shop in New York City with an asking price of $500.00, a substantial sum in those days for any pipe.
In “Trial By Fire”, an article in Pipes and Tobaccos magazine by William Serad and Tad Gage, Mr. Serad speaks of Steve Johnson working as the manager of the satellite store in Philadelphia in the early 1970’s, and again offers great compliments to Mr. Johnson’s work.
Mr. Johnson is believed to have moved on from the Philadelphia Wilke’s shop to working for Zino Davidoff.
Markings: No. 1 BROAD STREET, (J.W), MADE IN ENGLAND (round stamping) made in the 1930’s-40’s timeframe reportedly by Comoy’s for the tobacco shop in the John Wanamaker department store in Philadelphia, located at No. 1 BROAD STREET. It’s stamped with the (J.W) logo and the early 1930’s-40’s circular MADE IN ENGLAND country of manufacture stamping. Here’s some info on the stamping from Trademark history: J.W. On Tuesday, April 18, 1933, a U.S. federal trademark registration was filed for NO. 1 BROAD STREET by JOHN WANAMAKER PHILADELPHIA, PHILADELPHIA. The USPTO has given the NO. 1 BROAD STREET trademark serial number of 71336921. Made for them by Comoy’s. The NO. 1 BROAD STREET trademark is filed in the category of Rubber Products . The description provided to the USPTO for NO. 1 BROAD STREET is SMOKING TOBACCO.” (Steven Johnson – Pipedia)
The last paragraph there was pretty much discussing the building that the pipe shops were in. I did not include the images as this blog is already a long one. So, Steven Johnson must have been a pipe making progeny and he got to live the dream of making pipes and working in pipe shops throughout the 1970s. If any of you would like to make this S. Johnson yours for $500, PLEASE say something in the comments. In all seriousness I’ll sell it for far less than $500.
The Restoration
The first step was to poorly focus on the S Johnson while it sat on a cleaned denim piece.
Next came the evaluation of stem banding material. I checked available spent cartridges for the correct size, thinking that one might look cool and the more traditional brass tubing. The diameter needed was .50 inches which coincided nicely with a 300 Winchester Short Magnum that I picked up somewhere.
The rifle case was tarnished but would polish up nicely. The question was, how to bore out the interior to fit the stem. Hmm, good thing I don’t have a lathe (said with extra sarcasm). I do know a great machinist though. I will call him Christian, because that is his name. I have employed the use of Christian’s unique skill set on other restorations here and here, if you are interested. More on Christian in a bit.
The stem had a large chip removed due to a previous break. My thought was to add a “band” to the stem, thus concealing the chipped portion and also filling it with epoxy within the band.
While considering the stem repairs I proceeded on to reaming the tobacco chamber. The tools needed were the PipNet, Smokingpipes Low Country Reamer and the General triangular scraper.
The pipNet with the #2 and #3 blades worked well for the deep chamber but (dramatic pause)
there was a good deal of extra scraping that required the General.
Eventually the chamber looked pretty well reamed. There was charring damage observed within the tobacco chamber. It was not severe but it was an issue which would require attention.
Next, the lava on the rim was addressed.
This was softened with saliva and scraped with a sharp pocket knife.
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 was wiped with 95% ethyl alcohol on a make-up pad.
The shank was cleaned out using numerous bristle pipe cleaners dipped in the ethyl alcohol and a nylon shank brush.
I had reached out to Christian to ask when he would be available to assist with this project. The date was February 4. The project was put on hold until February 25 when I could make it to Christian’s new machine shop. Once there I showed him what my thoughts were regarding the band. He immediately thought that the cartridge would make a cooler looking band than the brass tubing or, maybe he relished the greater challenge of the cartridge.
The cartridge was measured and cut using a lathe. The edge was then slightly beveled.
I neglected to photograph the next steps, I know, loser move. I will try to explain them. A boring bar was used on the lathe to bore out the interior of the cartridge giving it an equal inside diameter with a flat bottom. This bottom would be the resting place for the end of the acrylic stem. The outside diameter of the tenon was measured and an appropriate drill bit was selected. The primer pocket was enlarged to .25 inch. The brass was then polished on Christian’s buffer.
Back at home I assembled the stem and fit it to the stemmel. Everything looked like it was coming together nicely.
Below are a couple of photos of the parts at this juncture.
I needed to build up epoxy to replace the chip on the stem. I found a surrogate stem which fit the mortise of the real stem nicely. This was greased with petroleum jelly to avoid the epoxy from sticking.
The surrogate was inserted into the stem. This would prevent the epoxy from getting in the hole meant for the tenon insert. The two part epoxy was mixed and added to the chipped area. I had to continuously rotate the stem for about 15 minutes while the epoxy was setting up.
Once the epoxy had set I removed the surrogate.
It would take the epoxy a full 24 hours to completely harden but the chip had been filled. While the epoxy was still soft I used an exacto knife to trim the edge flush with the original edge.
I could work on the tooth chatter while the epoxy was curing. I cleaned the top and bottom of the bite zone with acetone.
Once cleaned, I used Thin clean cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) to build up the tooth dents.
This was repeated on the opposite side of the stem.
The CA was allowed to cure then was filed with a small flat file and smoothed with a 400 grit sanding sponge.
Additional applications of This CA were used until the depressions were completely filled.
The airway of the stem was then cleaned using pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.
With the epoxy on the stem needing time to completely harden, I returned to working on the stummel. The rim had some charring that I wanted to remove. This was done by lightly topping the pipe.
A piece of 220 sandpaper was laid flat on the counter and the rim sanded using a figure 8 motion. I rotated the stummel in my hand and repeated the sanding a few times.
The topped rim looked much improved.
The next day I couldn’t help but think I was mistaken about the reverse tenon of this stem. I gripped the tenon insert with a jaw-taped pliers and gave it a twist. The tenon insert came out. I felt kind of dumb for not realizing that the tenon of this pipe was completely normal and that the tenon insert was not reverse but that the broken stem had merely released the gluck holding the tenon insert in the stem. DOH!
I used the two drill bits in the above photo to clear and clean the hole in the stem. The brass was roughened up with a piece of 80 grit emery cloth to allow epoxy to better adhere.
The tenon insert was test fitted to the stem. The airway looked very nice and clear.
The tenon insert was roughened up with the emery cloth again to allow better contact with epoxy.
The brass was thoroughly cleaned with acetone. The epoxy was mixed and applied to the tenon insert and to the brass.
The tenon insert was seated into place.
A pipe cleaner was run through the airway from the button out through the tenon insert to clear any epoxy which may have intruded.
The excess epoxy was removed using a cotton swab then was wiped clean with a soft cotton cloth wetted with acetone.
Next came the sanding of the briar. The stamps were both masked with painters tape for their protection.
The tape was cut in slightly irregular shapes to better conceal the lack of sanding immediately around the stamps.
The inner rim was beveled by sanding it with a small wood ball wrapped in 220 sandpaper to mask the slight rim charing.
The exterior of the stummel was sanded with a series of sanding sponges from grits 400-3500. Between each sponge the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad moistened with ethyl alcohol.
The stummel was then worked with micro-mesh pads from 4000-12000 grit. Between each pad the stummel was wiped with an alcohol wetted make-up pad.
The stummel received a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm and was set aside for 15 minutes to allow the balm to work its magic.
The excess balm was wiped away with an inside out athletic sock.
The brass and stem were buffed using white compound on the buffer.
I wanted to revitalize the gold which the stem logo had. I used Run’nBuff Gold Leaf for this. The metallic wax was applied with a fly tying bodkin and buffed with a soft cloth.
The surrounding area was then cleaned of any gold using a cotton swab dipped in acetone.
The pipe then received several coats of carnauba wax with the buffer.
To address the charring of the tobacco chamber, I decided to give the pipe a bowl coating. I applied a light coating of 100% pure maple syrup to the interior with my finger tip. I ran a pipe cleaner up to the inner edge of the chamber via the mortise. This would act as a plug to keep the charcoal dust out of the airway.
A capsule of activated charcoal powder was then dumped into the chamber and placed a piece of painters tape over the rim.
The stummel was shaken for over a minute. The shaking was interrupted by me tapping the stummel on the denim covered workbench from several different sides. The goal was to evenly disperse the carbon powder. The tape was removed and the excess charcoal was dumped in the trash. I then blew air through the shank and avoided the black cloud of dust.
The final step was to hand buff the pipe with a microfiber polishing cloth.
This was a long restoration with several interesting twists. The whole misidentification of the reverse tenon made me feel foolish. I am not sure why the bowl was plugged. The interior of the tobacco chamber showed some light charing but did not show signs of excessive scraping. The plug looks very professionally done with a minimal footprint. The finish on the pipe with the checkering is interesting and something I think of with rifle stocks and not pipes. It does make the 300 Winchester Short Magnum brass more appropriate though.The color of the acrylic stem blends in well with the brass. Overall it turned out as a very large beautiful billiard which will hopefully give someone many more years of enjoyment. The dimensions of the S. Johnson 8 are follows:
Length: 8.76 in./ 222.50 mm.
Weight: 2.27 oz./ 64.36 g.
Bowl Height: 2.74 in./ 69.60 mm. (bowl only) 1.70 in. / 43.18mm (with tube)
Chamber Depth: 2.58 in./ 65.53 mm.
Chamber Diameter: 0.84 in./ 21.34 mm.
Outside Diameter: 1.47 in./ 37.39 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. Oh, I almost forgot. I do not like the white background. Perhaps it’s my lighting but, I find the black better for me and my photography.
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Below are some photos of the finished S. Johnson 8.
I think my fascination with metal pipes began with Falcons. I always thought they looked cool. As a kid, I remember the next door neighbor, Joe Chase, always smoking a pipe while working on his yard and they were frequently Falcons or Vikings (my memory isn’t too specific). Later in life I tried the Falcon and appreciated the convenience of bowl swapping and easy cleaning. Even later, I started dabbling with restorations and researching the history of various pipes and their makers. This led me to http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/ when it was run by Tony Pringle. Tony proved to be very helpful in response to my questions via email. Doug Bisbe has taken the reins of the smokingmetal site, with Tony’s retirement from the arena, and is incredibly knowledgeable and helpful in providing information about metal pipes. As for this alluring aluminum darling, it came to me as part of a “grab bag” I asked Steve Laug to assemble for me consisting of metal pipes. I wanted to try improving my skills and techniques working on metal. Steve and his brother, Jeff, enabled this with a fun bunch of metal artifacts, this unmarked specimen included. When the unmarked pipe arrived it was photographed and appeared as below.
Background
How the heck do you research an unmarked metal pipe? Well, fortunately there is a site for that. Unfortunately, it does require you to do a lot of clicking and comparing. The site is http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/index.html. That is where I started. Now, I admit to having spent a good deal of time here on previous occasions so, I could narrow down the list of things to click. They also have a header with categories to help you find or narrow things down.
I was searching for a metal pipe with a screw through the bowl. So I began clicking on pipes which met those criteria. This led me to the following:
“unknown – MST – 20” Now, you may think the MST is short for Mystery but no. Metal Stem Through is far more likely. The text for this page is as follows as are the three images:
“Plastic bit, bowl that appears to be Bryson, certainly compatible. No markings
Two seen with DANCO boxes, needs further checking though
The above images match the pipe in hand exactly except for the texturing on the bowl. Okay, I had a match. The important part for me in terms of restoration was that I could see how the pipe would be assembled and disassembled. The stem was press fit, the end cap was threaded, the bowl was one piece with the screw and base attached to the wood bowl. This entry also contained a bit about Bryson.
I returned to the A_Z contest index and found the Bryson entry. There, the site listed the Following (highlighting added by me),
“Made by the Briarwood Corporation, Palo Alto, California, the BRYSON has number D120275 under the Bryson name on the pipe stem.
There is a crosshead screw to attach the briar bowl to the stem. The end cap attaches to the mouthpiece by means of a rod through the length of the pipe, in which the air hole is close to the mouth piece.
The stem is of polished duraluminum and hexagonal in cross section
The bowls are unusual in that they are not briar turned on a lathe, but briar wood, ground to a powder and compressed under very high pressure (no glue, heat or plastics are used, just pressure. It is claimed this produces a perfect bowl of aged briar every time with increased porosity. The varnished finish on the smooth bowl however is often very badly crazed. Two bowls, one smoth and one rusticated, were supplied with the new pipe. The bowl retaining screw is ‘locked’ onto the bowl by a gasket and metal collar, enabling rapid replacement of the bowls without the need of a screwdriver
The corn cob bowl, in centre image,is another version, not sure if this was manfactured by Bryson, or a home workshop job
The set here shown was available for $3.50 new, but in what year ? Adverts seen from 1946 magazine
The lower photograph was of a possible derivative on ebay in 2003, although US patent D122042 seems to be this pipe, invented by Max Bressler, Chicago Ill 1940
There are also other derivatives without the Bryson name stamped in the metal and variations on the shape and grooving of the stem
That with Pat Pend under the Bryson name has no grooves forward of the bowl and the front end cap is a larger thread than the other models, including my version with no name 30 April 1940 US patent # D120,275 Inventor Charles Rothman, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, assignor Briarwood Corp, also of Cleveland Ohio at that time”
Well, that explains what I saw completely and adds credence to the provenance of this pipe. Later in the restoration you will see photos of the bowl and can easily make out the particle board looking texture to the bowl due to its composition of pressed briar dust. I believe this pipe to be made by Bryson or an affiliate during World War Two. The style and composition of the briar bowl are in-line with the above description.
The Restoration
The restoration began as with most others, a clean denim piece to protect the work surface. At this point I would like to quote the smokingmetal.co.eu site with a warning regarding working on old metal pipes.
“A word of warning If you are thinking of buying online, be very very careful. Best policy with ‘metals’ is to see an image of the dismantled pipe. Buying otherwise unless desperate for an example can too often result in you ending up with a pipe that may be damaged when you try to dismantle and clean it. Mind you, you may learn how to repair them, but parts are of course getting rarer than hens teeth” (http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/news.php)
It was at this point that I started to dismantle the Unknown Metal pipe. The stem came loose fairly easily but that is where my progress stopped. I needed to know how this pipe was assembled before I tried to disassemble it. I went upstairs to the computer and started looking through the long list of metal pipe with screw through bowls. I looked through 64 individual pipes before I found the match. The photos showed that the end cap was threaded and that the screw in the bowl was part of the bowl and not just a screw holding the bowl to the aluminum tube.
With that knowledge my plan of attack was fine tuned. I would first ream and clean out the tobacco chamber. This would allow me better access to the screw at the bottom of the chamber. The reaming kit was gathered.
The bowl was rather large in diameter and it accommodate the largest, #4 blade for the PipNet. This pipe had been smoked fairly heavily based upon the amount of cake removed.
It was at this point I realized that something was very different about the “briar” of this bowl. I had not read about the Bryson pressed briar dust bowl at this point. I stopped researching when I found the matching pipe and determined how to disassemble it. The material reminded me of a Medico made Brylon pipe.
Undeterred, I started cleaning out the screw head slots. I scraped with a dental scraper and moistened the screw with 95% ethyl alcohol.
I retrieved my gunsmithing screwdriver bit set. I knew that I wanted a better quality screwdriver as I could tell this screw had been forced and looked slightly damaged.
I chose a flat tipped Phillips head bit of appropriate size. I thought this would allow a better grip on the screw and not force the bit upwards with increased pressure.
I soaked the screw with ethyl alcohol from the bowl as well as around the base of the bowl. With slow even pressure the screw relented. And the entire bowl was removed. The bottom of the bowl was quite corroded and this oxidation was the likely cause for the screw being so tightly stuck.
Below is the corroded base of the bowl with only a light brushing with a brass brush.
Below is the base after a thorough brushing with a brass brush and scrubbing with ethanol soaked cotton swabs.
It was time to visit the sink for the scrubbing. The bowl was scrubbed with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a nylon brush. The Soap was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton hand towel.
The aluminum tube (tube from here on out) was scrubbed with a Scotchbrite pad and Castile liquid soap on the outside and with a nylon shank brush inside. The tube was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton hand towel.
Back at the workbench, the hope was that the soap, water and heat from the scrubbing would soften and get the endcap to loosen slightly. It didn’t. I used a thick piece of leather to protect the end cap from the jaws of the channel lock pliers.
The stem was cleaned out with bristles pipe cleaners and 95% ethyl alcohol.
I took the tube to the buffer to buff and polish the aluminum. While there I spent a little time on the plastic stem and inner tube.
Upon returning to the workbench the bowl had completely dried and I got a good look at the briar. Again, I emphasize that I had not researched the pipe beyond the initial “Unknown – MST – 20” (http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/pipe.php?page=212) page. I could immediately tell that this was not typical briar. I ran upstairs for some further research.
This is when I came across the research material concerning the Brylon pressed briar bowl materia. Everything clicked in my mind. I knew that from here out I would be very judicious with any kind of solvents. I was unsure how or if they would react with the pressed briar of the bowl. Everything had seemed okay with the soap and scrubbing and with using the ethanol attempting to loosen the screw but I would be more cautious going forward.
Again returning to the workbench, the tube polished up beautifully and the stem looked far better but I was not completely happy with it.
Before I could re-dye the bowl I wanted to repair the two cracks at the bottom of the bowl. I figured that brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) would be the best course of action. The next two photos show crack one and crack 2 on opposite sides of the bowl.
I planned to use the brown CA applied with a fly tying bodkin and work the CA down into the crack.
Below you can see the CA filled crack.
The CA was allowed to cure and was then filed with a small flat file.
On the opposite side the curvature of the cracked area required sanding.
Next came a light topping of the bowl with a piece of sandpaper laid flat on a counter.
The topped bowl was looking better, still slightly out of round. I guessed that to be “normal” for pressed briar bowls.
The bowl would get a single application of Fiebing’s Leather Dye in black. A cork was used to plug the tobacco chamber and act as a handle. The dye would be applied with a folded pipe cleaner and flamed to set the dye and vaporize the alcohol solvents.
Below is the resulting black dyed bowl. The dye applied very similarly to normal briar.
Back at the workbench the bowl was wiped with a slightly ethanol wetted make-up pad then was sanded lightly with a 400 grit sanding sponge. You can see that the sanding revealed the brown of the briar on the ridges of the rustication.
The bowl was then given a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm and set aside for 20 minutes.
The excess Restoration Balm was wiped away with an inside out athletic sock.
I used a dremel rotary tool and a wool polishing bit to lightly polish the bowl screw. I did not want to use any buffing compound in fear of not being able to get it out of the tobacco chamber.
To address my “not happy” with the stem, I used a small flat file to lightly resurface the button and the area immediately below the button on the top and bottom of the stem. This was then sanded with sponges 320-1000.
The stem was then returned to the buffer and buffed with white compound.
This produced a level of finish that I was happy with.
To make it even better, I hand buffed the stem with Before and After Fine followed by the Extra Fine Polish on a soft cotton cloth.
The stem returned to the buffer for several coats of carnauba wax. The ridge tops of the bowl were also waxed with carnauba but I was careful not to apply pressure and to keep the wax out of the rustications.
The final step was a hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth.
This was a fun and interesting restoration. Next time I work on a metal pipe of unknown origin, I will definitely do my background research before starting rather than during, twice… This little pipe is adorable. I think the whole thing is pretty amazing, the history, the workmanship, the material used, all made for a fascinating project. I have no idea if it smokes well. I can’t imagine that it would not be, with the wide chamber excellent for English and aromatic blends. I can easily envision the ridges of the aluminum tube being very efficient at radiating heat from the smoke. This would make a very handy little working pipe for the fishing tackle box, garage or for a lawn mowing pipe. It’s small size and light weight are great for an active smoker. The dimensions of the Unknown Aluminum Pipe are as follows:
Length: 5.06 in./ 128.52 mm.
Weight: 1.27 oz./ 36.00 g.
Bowl Height: 1.17 in./ 29.72 mm. (bowl only) 1.70 in. / 43.18mm (with tube)
Chamber Depth: 0.82 in./ 20.83 mm.
Chamber Diameter: 0.85 in./ 21.59 mm.
Outside Diameter: 1.49 in./ 37.85 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.
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Below are some photos of the finished Unknown Aluminum Pipe.
I worked on several meerschaum pipes last summer. I wanted to improve my skill set by branching out from briar pipe. They were fun and produced some fine smoking pipes. You may be familiar with the saying, “use it or lose it”. I felt the need to work with meerschaum again. I am more than certain that what I know about the mineral would hardly fill a tobacco chamber so when I saw this lovely carved meer I had to bid. Winning it for under $17 was a bonus I hadn’t planned for. The pipe headed south from Cokato, Minnesota to the tropics of southeast Nebraska where the current temperature is 14° F (-10 c). I am sure it’s warmer here than in Cokato as they are about 350 miles north. The pipe was free of any markings or stamps. The style and early stages of coloring indicate that this is a Turkish made meerschaum pipe. The photos below show the pipe as it appeared before any work.
The pipe was in very good condition. It had been smoked but not a great deal. There was a light cake built up in the tobacco chamber and there were telltale signs of smoking residue and tar in the stem. There was a small crack along the back side of the bowl but this did not appear to be anything more than superficial. The pipe had begun to color something that I hoped to work on developing. The beeswax coating on the pipe was in good condition and there did not appear to be any “dry” looking spots to the meerschaum.
Background
I have pretty much told you all that I know about this pipe and I admit that a good deal of that is hypothetical. I think this is a Turkish made meerschaum pipe made from Turkish meerschaum. That sounds like there may be a woodchuck chucking nearby. Turkish meerschaum is known to be the best quality meerschaum and Turkish craftsmen have honed their skills well. According to Google’s Artificial Intelligence (AI)I when posed with the question “where is the highest quality meerschaum mined?”, “The highest quality meerschaum is mined in the region around Eskisehir, Turkey. This is considered the only place in the world where the purest and best quality meerschaum blocks are found, primarily in the Sarisu mines located within Eskisehir.” The below map was screenshot with a search asking for “sarisu meerschaum mines eskisehir turkey”. Thank you AI. I am trying to be nice and polite to the AI as I hope it will remember those who were kind to it when it unleashes the Terminators.
As usual I began with a cleanish piece of denim on the workbench.
The reaming tools were just scrapers and sandpaper on a stick as I did not want to cause any additional torsion to the reaming process with a reading tool.
The Scraping did a good job of removing the cake deposits.
Below is a photo of the tobacco chamber after being sanded. No interior damage was observed.
The ri had some lava which was removed with 95% ethyl alcohol on cotton swabs.
The stem was gunked up much worse than I originally thought. This required a good deal of scraping with the dental pick and numerous alcohol dipped cotton swabs.
A shank brush with alcohol was also used with numerous bristle pipe cleaners.
To improve the polish of the airway and remove the traces of dark tar I used a churchwarden pipe cleaner and some whitening toothpaste. The toothpaste was applied to the pipe cleaner.
One end was clamped into a tabletop vice. The stem was then threaded onto the pipe cleaner. The stem was moved up and down the length of the pipe cleaner allowing the toothpaste to scrub the airway.
The stummel was then taken to the sink for a scrub with warm water, no soap, and a nylon scrub brush. The stummel was dried with a cotton hand towel.
Back and the workbench the airway of the stummel was cleaned using a number of bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. At one point I thought that the airway was too constricted so I used a 532 inch drill bit, by hand, through the nylon tenon and into the meerschaum. I blew out the meerschaum dust and continued cleaning.
When the airway was finally clean I bega heating the beeswax in a small glass jelly jar. I placed the jar into water in a pan. This allowed the beeswax to melt in the jar using the hot water to melt it. This serves a couple of purposes; one, the hot water keeps the wax hot longer than hot wax alone and two, it keeps the wax from vaporizing. Vaporizing wax over a propane stove burner sounds like a bad idea to me.
Below is what I call the beeswaxing kit: A heat gun, an aluminum catch tin to collect dripping beeswax, the always needed paper towels and the pipe.
The stummel was heated with the heat gun prior to brushing on the liquid beeswax. Once hot, I started applying the beeswax starting at the shankend. The stummel was constantly moved around heating it from all sides. Excess melted wax accumulated in the catch tin.
Once I finished applying the beeswax I continued to move the stummel around in the hot air stream until it quit dripping. I put on a glove to protect my hand and wiped the surface of the pipe with a paper towel. The pipe was returned to the workbench and allowed to cool.
The stem on this pipe looked good so no sanding was done. I did give it a light buffing with white buffing compound with the white flannel wheel. The stem also received several coats of carnauba wax from the buffer. The stummel did not receive any carnauba due it having just gotten a nes coat of beeswax. The entire pipe was hand buffed with a microfiber polishing cloth to rain the shine.
Well there it is another learning experience of working with meerschaum and completing a lovely Carved Meerschaum Apple. I am still learning camera settings and photo editing for the white background. Feel free to comment on background preferences. As for the pipe, I think it turned out nicely. I can report that it is a fine smoking pipe. I am generally not a fan of carved pipes but the grapes, leaves and vines gave this piece a feel of the Mediterranean and seemed quite fitting. Besides, I am a sucker for a nice apple shape. The pipe looks very good with the new beeswax and it did seem to draw out more color. The pipe feels great in hand and is my perfect size chamber. The crack in the meerschaum does not appear to be an issue so I did nothing with it. If it fails in the future then I will have gained even more knowledge about meerschaums. The dimensions of the Carved Meerschaum Apple areas follows:
Length: 6.22 in./ 158.00 mm.
Weight: 1.44 oz./ 40.80 g.
Bowl Height: 1.88 in./ 47.75 mm.
Chamber Depth: 1.65 in./ 41.91 mm.
Chamber Diameter: 0.78 in./ 19.81 mm.
Outside Diameter: 1.60 in./ 40.64 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.
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Below are some photos of the finished Carved Meerschaum Apple.
I have always thought that rooting for the underdog was an American characteristic. This is probably a very flawed thought as I am an American and the vast majority of my life experiences are with other Americans. Given, I taught English as a Second Language (ESL) science in a large urban school and had students from many different countries. The fact remains that most of my life was spent with American culture and Americans. Well, it turns out that psychologists have studied this rooting for the underdog and actually have theories for it. One article I read, Decision Affect Theory: Emotional Reactions to the Outcomes of Risky Options, by Barbara A. Mellers, Alan Schwartz, Katty Ho and Ilana Ritov found that;
“Emotional responses also depend on probabilities and unobtained outcomes. Unexpected outcomes have greater emotional impact than expected outcomes” (https://www.jstor.org/stable/40063228). So what does all this nonsense have to do with a pipe? The subject of this restoration is a terribly beaten up Peterson Donegal Rocky which I thought to be barely salvageable. In other words, this poor Pete was a major underdog. Below are some photos of the Donegal Rocky prior to work done:
I think you can see what I mean by an underdog. This pipe was a mess. The rim was severely charred and had extensive lava deposits on the remaining rim. There also appeared to be lava on the mortise. The rustications were filled with dirt and grime. The tobacco chamber still had tobacco in its cake constricted chamber. The stem was oxidized, calcium deposited and chewed on. The stem also wouldn’t correctly seat. All of these factors made me consider just depositing the old pipe in the trash then I thought why not root for the underdog and see what I could do with what I had.
Background
In a previous restoration blog I used the following: “As much as I love the history of the Kapp and Peterson company and Peterson pipes, I will not get into that other than give you resources to read the history for yourself. I will delve into the Dunmore, or Dunmoor line of pipes at greater depth.
For a great history Mark Irwin and Gary Marlburg’s book is a must read for a Pete Geek.
Now to the stuff regarding this pipe: A Peterson Dunmore. I refer to Mark Irwin again here and his blog, Peterson Pipe Notes. I can wholeheartedly recommend the free at
https://petersonpipenotes.org/ Yes, you will get emails but only for things like the weekly blog post and occasional Peterson pipe drops (like the Peterson Pipe Notes Pipe of the Year) or offers for cool Pete Geek merchandise.
I recently acquired for study an amazing NOS (new/old stock) Donegal Rocky 01s with its box, sleeve and brochure. Hallmarked with a Celtic lower-case n for 1979, it’s a first-year release of this marvelous ‘short dutch’ bowl shape and convenient reason to take a look back at the long history of Peterson’s iconic “Donegal Rocky” line.
The “Donegal Rocky” (in quotation marks), released in 1945 or so, was Kapp & Peterson’s first rusticated line. Not that K&P hadn’t rusticated pipes previously, they just that they hadn’t devoted an entire line to rustication. And they were apparently proud of it, because they gave it a sterling mount along with a black finish and white-stamped P on the mouthpiece.
It was part of K&P’s “Product Line,” what I call gateway pipes and others might call an entry-level pipe, as you can see in this shape chart from the 1945 catalog. Like the Shamrock (European version) and “K,” it was originally a fishtail line.
For nearly thirty years, from 1947 until 1975, the line continued uninterrupted, black rusticated finish with fishtail mouthpiece and sterling band.
from the 1976 Associated Imports Point-of-Sale Brochure
Then in 1976, just a year out from their Centennial celebration, Peterson (in an expansive mood) pushed the Donegal up a notch, giving the line a P-Lip. The 1976 engraving doesn’t show it, but you can just glimpse a new, deeper rustication in the (still black) 1978 Associated Imports chart:
This rustication was done by a carver in Dublin, Paddy Larrigan told me this past June in Sallynoggin. The artisan did all of Peterson’s fantastic rustications from the period: the classic “Pebble Rustics,” the early Sherlock Holmes rustics, the Bond Street of Oxford Premier Systems, and the sterling-band P-Lip Donegals.
And that’s where this 1979 01s comes in handy, because we can see with much greater clarity the rustication as well as the details of a “Donegal Rocky” at its pinnacle of engineering and finish:
It’s worth remarking concerning the removable stinger. This spike-ended aluminum tube is easily removed, leaving the P-Lip mouthpiece strictly a graduated-bore regulation affair.
If I were more dedicated, I’d smoke this pipe a few dozen times with and without the stinger and give you a report on what purpose it serves. I wonder if the craftsmen at the factory installed the stinger to approximate the effect of the older bone tenon extensions routinely attached to Classic Range Dublin & London, Classic and Premier lines? With or without the stinger, the pipe smoker should enjoy the benefits of the “Sub-System,” which I talk about at length in The Peterson Pipe. As it is, I’ll leave that to someone else, and happily report their findings.*
Here’s the COM stamp, showing Peterson’s love of quotation marks (seen also in the “SPORTS” line) as well as a closer look at the stain and rustication technique:
Sometime between 1978 and 1980 the sterling band was dropped to a nickel band and the P-Lip abandoned in favor of the Donegal’s traditional fishtail, all of which may (or may not) indicate a lessening in the quality of the rustication.
Seen above from the 1981 Mark Twain brochure, the sterling band resurfaced, this time with the line’s first change in stain color to what some of us have in our rotations or remember: the contrast brown over black (seen in the dutch 339 hallmarked for ’81 below). The catalogs indicate some fluctuation from sterling to nickel bands on through the Late Republic era (1969-90) into the Dublin era (1991-2018), with the sterling being used (as happens so often with Peterson lines) in conjunction with a P-Lip in the 1997 catalog, but also in that year available with a nickel band and fishtail.
The dublin 120 seen above is from ’94, and as you can see, while the rustication technique is nearly identical to that of the ’81 dutch billiard, the stain color has changed for a third time to burgundy-over-black, which seems to have been the standard during most of the early Dublin era.
Sometime near the beginning of this century the Donegal was down-graded again to its original “Product” or gateway status by a nickel band and fishtail mouthpiece as seen in this B7, and while the stain remains the same, it looks less craggy:
Things would grow steadily worse in the following years, however, as the gawdawful pineapple rustication took hold, so that by around 2010 the Donegal was reduced to the etchings seen on this B39:
With the return of in-house rustication earlier this year, things are looking up for the Donegal, at least just a little, as you can see in this current 80s:
The finish and the rustication are, so nearly as I can tell, identical with that used on current rusticated SH pipes, so that’s something, right? I don’t think I’d call it a Rocky anymore, but at least it still has a vulcanite mouthpiece, a plus.
As for the future of the line—or the name—I couldn’t hazard any guesses. In the ideal Peterson of my imagination, the line would assume the craggiest crags, sharp textures and brilliant obsidian finish of the last batch of Rosslare Rusticated pipes, along with—of course—a vulcanite P-Lip. In the meantime, just to have it around, as one of the bedrock Peterson lines for almost 75 years, will do.
Thanks go out to Mark again. Now, as for this Donegal Rock; the rustication and the color fit the late 1990s-2010, pre-”gawdawful pineapple” phase. The quote describing it best is “Sometime near the beginning of this century the Donegal was down-graded again to its original “Product” or gateway status by a nickel band and fishtail mouthpiece as seen in this B7, and while the stain remains the same, it looks less craggy:” This included the burgundy-over-black dye, the nickel band and the fishtail mouthpiece. The rustication is difficult to describe due to the worn nature of the pipe but it is definitely of a hand carved nature and not that of machine made look. Overall, I guesstimate this pipe to be from the 1990s-early 2000s. This makes it a more recent pipe but one that has seen a great amount of use and abuse.
The Restoration
Vivid mental images of how this pipe might turn out filled my head as I placed it on the clean denim piece.
I began with an initial sanding of the stem to remove the surface oxidation. TO maintain the crisp edges of the stem I wanted to keep it attached so the shank was wrapped in masking tape, protecting it from the sanding.
Once sanded, I removed the stem and examined the tenon. The below photo doesn’t do the layer of grime justice. The tenon was encrusted with smoking residue and tar.
I used a sharp pocket knife to scrape the end of the tenon and started cleaning it with a 95% ethyl alcohol dipped bristle pipe cleaner.
Several additional alcohol dipped pipe cleaners and a good deal of nylon brush scrubbing the stem airway was clean.
A pipe cleaner was inserted into the tenon to act as a hanger suspending the stem in Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer (lovingly referred to as deox).
The edge of the mortise was as crusty as the tenon had been. I have seen thick lava deposits on a rim but not on a rim this bad before. I softened the crust with saliva and let it soak for a couple of minutes and scraped the surface with a sharp pocket knife.
I gathered the reaming kit; PipNet, Smokingpipes Low Country Reamer and General triangular scraper.
I initially thought that one the #2 and #3 blades of the PipNet would be needed. Wrong. The #4 blade was also put to work.
After the #4 blade there was still scraping to be done with the General.
The tobacco chamber was sanded with 220 sandpaper to bare briar. There was some slight charring of the interior of the chamber. This was not severe and I thought that a bowl coating would suffice to protect the briar.
Next came the shank cleaning. I began with scraping the walls of the mortise with a dental scraper. The scrapings were thick and filled with cotton fluff from pipe cleaners. Well, I assumed that was the source of the cotton even though this pipe looked like it had never seen a cleaning nor a pipe cleaner.
The stummel was taken to the sink for a scrub with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a nylon scrub brush. The amount of grime scrubbed from the stummel was impressive. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stumel dried with a cotton hand towel.
Looking at the freshly scrubbed and dried stummel I could see quite a bit of grime remaining on the mortise, within the rustications and on the rim. Another scrubbing was done with undiluted Murphy’s and a brass brush. The rinsing and drying were done as before.
Back at the workbench the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. The alcohol lifted a red dye from the briar.
The scrubbing revealed the damage to the rim much more clearly.
Possible remedies came to mind. Plan A – was to cut a wedge of briar from another pipe. I had one of nearly equal chamber diameter.
This idea would glue the edge onto the existing rim, fill the seams with cyanoacrylate and briar dust, shape the wedge to match the lines of the 999 shape, carve the new briar to match the pattern of the existing briar then dye the stummel. This plan would produce a finished product that was a true restoration. The plan was also drought with issues. My greatest concern was with the gluing of new briar to the old briar. I thought that I could pin this briar patch in place to make it more secure. This plan sounded like it would take many hours of tedious work, though fun.
Plan B – cut the rim on both sides to match. This would give the stummel a forward canted look. The new rim would require re-texturing. This plan also completely changes the original shape of the pipe and would make this a salvage rather than a restoration. This plan would only take a fraction of the time of the previous plan as well.
I went with Plan B. If this worked it would produce a fine working pipe, one that would be perfect for knocking around while changing the oil in the truck, fishing or doing yard work and I’m lazy.
I used a Dremel with an abrasive sided cutoff wheel to cut the non-charred side of the stummel.
I tried to match both sides and used the abrasive side of the wheel to flatten the rim.
This did accentuate the out-of-round tobacco chamber. I then started cleaning the shank with numerous cotton swabs dipped in ethyl alcohol and more scraping with the dental scraper.
The draft hole was scrubbed with a nylon brush and numerous bristle pipe cleaners.
The tars of the airway were persistent and I thought maybe an alcohol cotton treatment would better soften and remove them. The tobacco chamber and shank were stuffed with cotton and 95% ethyl alcohol was added with a pipette until the cotton was saturated.
Below is a photo of the saturated cotton. This was allowed to evaporate overnight. As the alcohol evaporated it would hopefully dissolve some of the tar and deposit it into the cotton thus removing it from the walls of the airway.
The stem sat in deox for 4 hours. I removed the stem and allowed it to drip some of the excess solution back into the jar.
Below you can see the stem on a coarse cotton shop rag.
The shop rag was used to vigorously rub the remaining solution from the stem. This rubbing removed the solution and a good deal of oxidized vulcanite.
I then scrubbed the stem with several cotton make-up pads sprinkled with Soft Scrub cleanser. The below photo shows a general progression of reduced oxidized rubber removal. The stem looked much better. I had talked to Doug Bisbee of dk Metal Pipes (https://www.dkmetalpipes.com/dkmetalpipe) earlier in the week. Doug does amazing work restoring Kirsten pipes. We discussed how he restores the vulcanite stems using only a buffer rather than the sanding and micro-meshing that I had always used. I thought this would be a good time to attempt a similar technique with my existing equipment. Doug uses Airway buffing wheels rather than the felt wheels I have. I have not invested in these wheels yet but am considering trying them out. An issue is that I would need to get a new ¾-1 horsepower variable speed buffer as well as the wheels to properly use them.
Using what I already have I worked the stem with my buffer and the red abrasive.
I followed this with the white compound on the dedicated white wheel and produced a nice finish on the stem.
The next morning I returned to the stummel. The cotton was stained with smoking residue removed from the briar.
The cotton was removed and I continued cleaning the airway/mortise with alcohol dipped cotton swabs. This process started out similarly to the day before but quickly improved dramatically. The discoloration of the cotton swabs below show that the remaining tars were much more easily removed after the alcohol and cotton treatment.
The bristle pipe cleaners in the draft hole showed a similar result.
I used a couple different carving bits in the Dremel rotary tool to get the texture to match the Donegal Rocky rustication.
It was time to try matching the Peterson dye. I thought that I would start with a black undercoat topped with a dark red. Fiebing’s Leather Dye was the product of choice. Folded pipe cleaners acted as my applicators while a wine cork wrapped in several coats of masking tape provided a plug to keep the dye from the tobacco chamber and a handle.
The black Fiebing’s was applied and flamed with a lighter.
The black was wiped with a paper towel and allowed to dry for about 10 minutes. It was then taken to the buffer and buffed from the highspots.
The remaining buffing compound was wiped from the stummel using an alcohol wetted make-up pad. Below is a photo of the black dyed , buffed and wiped stummel.
Next, the stummel was dyed with the dark red Fiebing’s.
This was flamed and allowed to dry for an hour.
The pipe was starting to look more finished.
I wrapped the shank with masking tape to protect it during the nickel band polishing. The band was polished at the buffer with white compound.
The stem looked good but I wanted it to really look good. I hand buffed it with Before and After Fine Polish on a soft cotton rag.
The Fine Polish was followed by the Before and After Extra Fine Polish buffed by hand with the same but a clean spot with the same soft cotton cloth.
For the bowl coating I used maple syrup applied with my fingertip to the interior of the bowl. Before starting a thick pipe cleaner was inserted into the draft hole to keep the syrup and carbon out of the hole. Once the syrup was applied I opened a capsule of carbon powder and dumped it into the bowl. The bowl was covered with a 2 inch wide piece of painters tape and shaken vigorously for several seconds to distribute the carbon powder.
The tape was removed and the remaining powder dumped. Below is a photo of the new bowl coating.
The bowl coating would take a couple days to dry completely. The rustications of this pipe were worn fairly smooth with use. This allowed me to use the buffer to apply several coats of carnauba wax to the stummel and to the stem. The final step was to hand buff the pipe with a microfiber polishing cloth.
This is not my first Peterson Donegal Rocky restoration but it was the first time I attempted a white background for the before and after photos. I am still learning camera settings and photo editing for the white. Feel free to comment on background preferences. As for the pipe, I think it turned out about as well as it could have. I like the craggy appearance and feel of the pipe and the rim re-rustication. The 999 shape is a favorite of mine. The burgundy and black contrast stain does come close to matching the original dye and I think it still works . I was quite happy with the oxidation removal from the stem and the black vulcanite polished up nicely. The nickel band looks bright and well polished. I am sure this will be a great smoking pipe but will have to wait a couple of days for the coat coating to thoroughly dry. The dimensions of the Peterson Donegal Rocky 999 areas follows:
Length: 5.66 in./ 143.76 mm.
Weight: 1.58 oz./ 44.79 g.
Bowl Height: 1.42 in./ 36.07 mm.
Chamber Depth: 1.17 in./ 29.72 mm.
Chamber Diameter: 0.90 in./ 22.86 mm.
Outside Diameter: 1.65 in./ 41.91 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.
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Below are some photos of the finished Peterson Donegal Rocky 999.
When naming this restoration I nearly called it a “A No Name Rusticated Pot Pipe”. I did not want to be considered a drug paraphernalia marketeer thus, the word “Pot” was eliminated from the title. The complete lack of any stampings makes me question the origins of this pipe. More on that in the “Background” section to the . The pipe has a very nice shape and size to it and though I prefer a tapered stem this saddle fishtail is a nice touch. Below are some photographs taken of the pipe before I started work on it.
Background
I know this is not a Custom-Built pipe but it has the characteristics of a Custom-built and is most likely a copied version of one Now Custom-Belts were first made in the mid 1930 by Tracy mMincer. They gained renown and popularity and this popularity most likely created a market for imitators.When I was a kid most knock-offs, as we called them, came from Taiwan and Japan Over the years those two countries greatly improved their quality control and craftsmanship and today are known to produce high quality products. After World War Two (WWII) There was a flood of cheaper made pipes entering the United States. The Tariff Act of 1930 had made an attempt to force countries to mark or stamp the country of origin on the products but this was not always as successful or regulated but usually it was. Enforcement after the early 1950s was much better and in 1963 new regulations specifically addressed pipes. (https://www.usitc.gov/publications/tariff_affairs/pub103s.pdf, p.533) Thus we see ENGLAND, FRANCE or ITALY stamped on lower quality or “basket pipes”. If a pipe has no Country of Manufacture (COM) stamp, that is an indicator that it was made in the USA.
During WWII the supply of briar wood was greatly limited. Various alternatives like Mountain Laurel, mainly from North Carolina, and Mission Briar, from California, were used. Neither wood was successfully adopted by pipe smokers. After the war the supply of briar was again accessible and most makers stamped their pipes stressing that they were indeed made from genuine briar. Thus we see stamps like IMPORTED BRIAR, REAL BRIAR, GENUINE BRIAR etc… What does this have to do with the pipe in hand? Since there is no COM I assume it was made in the US. Due to the lack of stamping about the origin of the wood, I questioned whether it is made of briar. Jumping ahead, after the restoration I was able to get a good look at the wood along the smooth surfaces and it is definitely briar. No other wood has the grain and bird’s eyes like briar. The heavily carved surface of this pipe and the large areas of fills, that you can see in the photos during the restoration, led me to hypothesize that this was a pipe made after Mincer’s Custom-Bolts had become popular. The briar is of lower quality requiring the heavy use of rusticated carving and fill/putty, again indicating war years. Could this have been a second of Custom-Bilt? Possible but I could not find any examples of a real Custom-Bilt pipe with a pronounced fish tail stem in William E. Unger’s book, Individual as a Thumbprint The Custom-Bilt Story. I also couldn’t recall any mention of “seconds” from the book.
The Restoration
I normally photograph a pipe on a cleaned denim patch at the beginning of a restoration. I did that this time also but completely failed to get a decent focus. Well, I can’t go back so here is another in the long list of documented mistakes.
This pipe did not need a reaming as the tobacco chamber had been recently done. It did need a date with a scrub brush and some Murphy Oil Soap. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton hand towel.
The pipe kind of looked cleaner but there were strange dark patches present all over the stummel. I used make-up pads wetted with 95% ethyl alcohol to wipe the exterior of the stummel. The pads were quickly stained with stain.
This got rid of some of the dark patches but not all. The below two photos show the patches. They appeared to be made of a fill material applied after the carvings then stained. The stain seemed to have penetrated easily and produced the dark patches.
At the front of the pipe the patch had a hole in it. This looked like the patch here was shoddily applied to cover a larger hole or pit in the briar.
I dipped a brass brush into the alcohol and worked the patch area in an attempt to get rid of the fills. The patches were again wiped with an alcohol wetted make-up pad.
This helped but did not remove the filler completely. I figured a longer soaking in ethyl alcohol may be required to soften the old filler.
The tobacco chamber looked good. I lightly sanded the interior with 220 sandpaper and inspected the chamber for any heat damage.
Everything in the chamber looked fine with no sign of damage.
No damage here either.
I checked the cleanliness of the shank.It was far from the level of clean that the tobacco chamber was. I ran the Kleen-Reem shank drill through the draft hole, did some scraping and swabbed the airway with cotton swabs. It was quite tar filled.
The shank would also benefit from an extended soaking in ethyl alcohol.
The jar of 95% ethyl alcohol was topped off with fresh alcohol and the pipe started it’s bath.
The stummel was in the bath overnight. Whe it emerged the fills were much softer.
I worked them again with a brass brush and they just disappeared leaving slight depressions.
These depressions were nothing that I felt obligated to refill.
Well, the obligation to fill did arrive when I looked at the front hole. This one would need to be refilled.
The airway of the shank was far easier to clean after the alcohol bath as well.
The hole in the front of the stummel was filled with brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) applied with a fly tying bodkin. While the CA was wet briar dust was pressed into the wet CA. This was allowed to cure Then was roughed up with 220 sandpaper.
The stem was lightly sanded with 320 and 400 sanding sponges to remove the worst of the oxidation.
The stem was then vigorously rubbed with Soft Scrub cleanser on a make-up pad. This was done mainly to assess the level of oxidation.
The stem was severely oxidized enough that I thought a bath in Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer (deox) was in order. A pipe cleaner was inserted into the tenon to act as a hanger. The stem was in deox for 4 hours.
Upon removal from deox, I let the stem drip excess solution back into the jar for a few minutes.
I used a coarse shop rag to energetically rub the remaining solution and some of the oxidized rubber from the stem.
Below you can see some of the oxidation which came off on the shop rag.
I wanted to sand the stem in place on the stummel to avoid rounding the joint where the two pieces meet. The stem was sanded with a series of sanding sponges frome 320-3500 grit. The smooth sections of the stummel were simultaneously sanded. The stummel was wiped with a make-up pad moistened with alcohol between sponges while the stem was rubbed with mineral oil and wiped with a dry paper towel between sponges.
Normally I would have switched over to micro-mesh pads for the fine sanding but I wanted to try buffing the stem and stummel with rouge compound on the buffing wheel. That worked well and the finnish seemed adequate. The buffing compound was wiped from the pipe with make-up pads dipped in ethyl alcohol. The stummel then received a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm. The balm was allowed to sit and do it’s magic for 20 minutes.
The remaining Restoration Balm was wiped from the stummel using an inside out athletic sock.
I decided to use Renaissance Micro-Crystalline Wax as the finish for the stummel. I applied this with a baby toothbrush working it into the carvings. The product was allowed to dry for an hour then was buffed with a clean buffing wheel. The stem received several coats of carnauba wax also at the buffer.
The final step was a hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth.
I am quite pleased with how this No Name Rusticated Pot turned out. The briar is very lightweight and the shape feels amazingly good in hand. The stem polished up nicely with little indication of the previous oxidation. Saddle stems are not my favorite stem shape to restore as they are difficult to sand and polish. The area where the old fills were spread on so thick are noticeable under scrutiny but with a casual glance they appear to be just part of the rustication. I know they were there to cover for poor quality briar but the issues with quality are cosmetic, the structural integrity of the pipe is quite sound and I am sure this pipe will continue to serve me for many years. This gives me a “Custon-Bilt” like pipe for a fraction of the current market price of such a pipe. The Dimensions of the No Name Rusticated Pot are:
Length: 6.08 in./ 154.32 mm.
Weight: 1.67 oz./ 437.35 g.
Bowl Height: 1.69 in./ 4.93 mm.
Chamber Depth: 1.36 in./ 34.54 mm.
Chamber Diameter: 0.85 in./ 21.59 mm. (Conically bored diameter is at the top)
Outside Diameter: 1.75 in./ 44.45 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.
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Below are some photos of the completed No Name Rusticated Pot.
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The “Donegal Rocky” (in quotation marks), released in 1945 or so, was Kapp & Peterson’s first rusticated line. Not that K&P hadn’t rusticated pipes previously, they just that they hadn’t devoted an entire line to rustication. And they were apparently proud of it, because they gave it a sterling mount along with a black finish and white-stamped P on the mouthpiece.
It was part of K&P’s “Product Line,” what I call gateway pipes and others might call an entry-level pipe, as you can see in this shape chart from the 1945 catalog. Like the Shamrock (European version) and “K,” it was originally a fishtail line.
It’s worth remarking concerning the removable stinger. This spike-ended aluminum tube is easily removed, leaving the P-Lip mouthpiece strictly a graduated-bore regulation affair.
NebraskaPeteGeek 