Tag: retexturing a pipe

An E. Wilke Squat Apple Restoration

April 1st, 2025

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

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

business, overall quality…etc. thanks!” (https://groups.google.com/g/alt.smokers.pipes/c/w34OVfPNFfE?pli=1)

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.

A grand history in the 20’s through 50’s. The 60’s brought on a slow demise.” (https://groups.google.com/g/alt.smokers.pipes/c/w34OVfPNFfE?pli=1)

In a later post LDaneman writes,

“. . . ., and if anyone is interested, most of the post Wilke sister pipes were

mass-produced by Weber pipe company. I think anyway. Trying to remember the

name of that company. They were crap and that’s why I set up the new pipemaking

shop on the mezzanine level at Wanamakers. It was in the original teak paneled

Tobacco Shop John Wanamaker used to hang his hat and coat in. Was lost when

they enlarged an underground parking garage.” (https://groups.google.com/g/alt.smokers.pipes/c/w34OVfPNFfE?pli=1)

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.

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A Lorenzo Spitfire 8497 Restoration

March 4th, 2025
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

As a child of the 1970s I grew up with the series The Six Million Dollar Man. For those who never heard of this, it was a TV series where an astronaut crashes his ship and is badly damaged. He is rebuilt using “bionic” parts allowing him superhuman abilities. During the title sequence a narrator explains, “”We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better . . . stronger . . . faster.” For some reason this line kept going through my head during this restoration. Given the “faster” doesn’t work but the other two, most definitely. The pipe was one of 13 pipes won in an eBay auction from Germany. I was hoping to acquire some lesser known makers or lines of pipes to the US market.

The shape of this pipe is a tough one for me, it is a dainty pipe with a curved bowl. Is it a bent tulip, a chimney, a billiard? Heck, I don’t know, I’ll just use the 8497 stamped on the shank to identify the shape. As for the other stamps there was “Spitfire” in a flowing cursive script and GENUINE over BRIAR as a circle on the underside of the shank. Below is a screenshot of this pipe from the original eBay listing. It shows a repaired stem from a break, a chipped shank end and a good deal of excess glue, perhaps a failed clenching experience while mowing the lawn.

Below are some photos of the Spitfire before work had begun. Well, that is not entirely true. The break was held together by the glue until I tried to remove the stem. The stem was quite stuck. Unaware of my incredible strength, the glue broke while I tried to free the stem. Umm, there may have been a slight exaggeration there about my strength. The stem remained stuck within the shank piece as seen in the photos below.

Ok, you can see there are some issues here that will have to be addressed; the stem stuck in the broken shank and the broken shank being the greatest. The lesser issues include general dirtiness, stem oxidation, excess glue removal, tobacco chamber reaming and other typical restoration stuff. This is going to be a fun project.

Background

The first place that I searched was pipephil.eu for the name “Spitfire”. There I found the following:

(Sn-Ss — Pipes: Logos & Markings). Here you can see the same script style in the “Spitfire” stamping. The GENUINE BRIAR stamp is not represented but the four digit shape number is present. There is also a slight difference in the logo coloration of the bottom image from pipephil.eu. The bullseye shown is more indicative of the colors used by the British Spitfire fighter aircraft in World War Two.

(https://www.history.co.uk/articles/britains-most-heroic-spitfire-pilots-from-world-war-ii)

I assume that the blue coloration of the logo in this Spitfire had merely faded over the years.

The next search site was pipedia.org. There “Spitfire” resulted in:

(Italian Pipe Brands & Makers R – S – Pipedia). The Lorenzo link took me to a nice bit on the history of the predecessors of and the formation of Lorenzo Pipes in 1969. Also, there was the following quote specific to the Spitfire line:

“A somewhat more bargain series was given its own brand name: Spitfire. Spitfires displayed 1:1 transferred Lorenzo models (mainly for 9mm filter) as well as smaller, more classically shaped pipes. These were also extremely popular.” (Lorenzo – Pipedia). The store takes a more tragic turn in 1983,

“In 1983 Lorenzo Tagliabue came to bitter grief: his little daughter, the only child, died of cancer. He lost all interest in the business and retired still in 1983, leaving no heirs who wished to continue the business. Lorenzo Pipes was licensed for and continued for a shorter period by Comoy’s of London (Cadogan / Oppenheimer Group). Then Lorenzo Pipes almost disappeared and Lorenzo Tagliabue passed away in 1987.

But this wasn’t the end. In 1988 Riccardo Aliverti and his wife Gabriella purchased all rights to the Lorenzo trademark from the Tagliabue family and production of the renown Lorenzo Pipes resumed.

The Aliverti family is involved in pipemaking since Romolo Aliverti, the father of the current owners, joined the Lana Brothers in 1920. He later reached the rank of technical director. No wonder that his son Riccardo showed an interest in pipe making. Riccardo began learning the pipemaking trade in 1954 at the age of fourteen under his father’s watchful eyes and succeeded him as technical director upon his father’s retirement in 1973.

Today the third generation of the Aliverti family is working for the company. Massimo Aliverti, Riccardo’s son, has been with the company as sales director since 1991. He works closely with his father and knows all phases of production. Massimo has established a broad customer base for Lorenzo around the world.

As far as the informations are reliable, Lorenzo’s better lines (One Star, Two Star, Three Star, Moscato, Spumante and the Grand Canadian) are made in Italy while the cheaper ones (New Era – Riesling, New Era – Poggio, Angera, Angera Satinato, Cadry, Churchwarden, Filtro, Arena, Cadore, Sport PS and Garden) are made in Albania by Tomori to benefit from the rich deposit of briar in Albania.

The website of Lorenzo’s American distributor SMS Pipes gives a good impression of today’s Lorenzo Pipes. SMS also offers a wide range of Meers.” (Lorenzo – Pipedia).

I think that it is safe to say that this pipe was made in Italy by Lorenzo most likely between the early 1970s-1983.

The Restoration

Breaking a pipe is seldom fun and breaking one while removing a stem is less fun than that. I suppose I could take some consolation in the fact that it had already been broken and the attempted repair was what had actually broken. Regardless, the pipe made it to the workbench. I immediately dropped the shank piece and tenon end into a small medicine cup with 95% ethyl alcohol. Apologies for not photographing that step. The alcohol worked quickly in freeing the stem from the broken piece of shank. The below photo has the broken piece of shank pressed in place though not glued, for the photograph.

I began with reaming the tobacco chamber. I thought the PipNet and the #1 blade would be narrow enough for this petit chamber. It was for the first 1- 1.5 cm then the chamber tapered.

I used a Tsuge reaming tool for this narrow chamber. This was followed up with the General triangular scraper.

I remember picking up the Tsuge tool after my first PipNet set lost the #1 blade to breakage. The chamber was then sanded with 220 and 320 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel and a Sharpie marker, respectively. There was no damage from heat or charring in the chamber but there were a couple of places where the chamber had experienced small dings, likely from previous clumsy reaming/scraping.

The shank was cleaned with cotton swabs and bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.

The stummel was then taken to the sink for a scrubbing with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and both a nylon brush and a brass wire 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. This removed some stain from the briar.

The plan to repair the shank was this:
1. Glue a ¼ inch or 6.5 mm brass tube into the mortise well past the break.
2. Glue the broken shank end into place.
3. Fill the seams with cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) and briar dust.
4. Recarve the rustication and redye the shank.
The mortise of the Spitfire was drilled at ¼ inch or 6.5 mm. I needed to deepen the mortise to implement my fix. I used a Brad Point Drill Bits 1/4-Inch Hex Shank Stubby Drill Bit in a screwdriver handle to extend the mortise approximately 1.4 inch (6.5 mm) past the furthest edge of the break.

The brass tube was slid into position to test the fit. So far, so good.

The pieces of briar refused to align precisely. Bah! Hmm, there was a layer of glue from the previous fix on the briar which kept the broken pieces from aligning correctly.

I began soaking the broken edges with acetone to soften the old glue.

While the glue was soft I worked it with a nylon brush. This helped peel the edges of the glue from the briar. The acetone would evaporate quickly so I had to soften and scrub quickly. Eventually the glue was removed.

The brass tubing was cut to length using a tubing or pipe cutter.

The brass tube was scratched up with 80 grit emery paper to increase the surface area for the glue to adhere to. The tube was pressed into place without the broken shank piece and Thin CA was allowed to seep into the joint. The broken shank piece was slid over the brass tube and situated correctly. Additional Thin CA was applied to these seams. The two pieces of briar were then clamped and allowed to cure.

As the CA was curing I began cutting the tenon to fit into the brass tube. This required the use of the VermontFreehand Adjustable Tenon Turning Tool. I made several cutts adjusting the cutter very slightly (approximately 1/8th turn of the adjustment screw). I feared taking too much material off and shattering the thin tenon. Once the tenon was close to the right size I began filing the new tenon and smoothing it with 400 grit sandpaper.

When the CA that set, I used a countersink bit to hand bevel the inner edge of the mortise.

The stem was pressed into place and the fit was not too bad. I had to file the top of the stem to fit the shank. This was done by wrapping the shank with a layer of masking tape and filing the stem with a small flat file. The lower edge of the joint would have to wait until I had the chip filled before I could fit it to the stem.

Since the seam where the two shank pieces joined was adjacent to the stamps care had to be taken to keep from damaging the stamp. I applied brown CA with the tip of a fly tying bodkin to the seam. Briar dust was then pressed into the wet CA. The briar dust caused the CA to cure almost immediately. The excess dust was brushed off with a brass brush. This was repeated to fill the seam in very small increments.

The same process was used on the carved surface seams.

To fill the chipped shank end, I applied a bead of brown CA to the area that I wanted filled. This wet CA was then pressed into the box of briar dust. The excess dust was brushed off with a nylon brush and another thin layer of CA was applied. This wet CA was again pressed into the briar dust. Once the chip in the shank end was filled with CA and briar dust the end was filed with a small flat file. The final fill was topped with a coating of Thin CA to seal the layers of brown CA and briar dust.

At this point I was getting impatient to get a look at the finished pipe. I opted to try buffing the stem’s oxidation into submission. In hindsight, this was a mistake. I describe it here so that you can avoid being as dumb as me.

I wrapped the shank with masking tape to protect it from the buffing.

Using a rouge compound I buffed the stem until I thought I’d removed the oxidation.

The problem was, the stem looked shiny but shiny brown. I wanted shiny black. I wetted a few make-up pads with Soft Scrub cleanser and scrubbed the stem. They removed a great deal of oxidation.

“Okay, I’ll quit being in a hurry and do it right,” I said to myself. I suspended the stem into the Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer (I refer to this as deox). It was allowed to soak overnight.

The next day I removed the stem and allowed it to drip excess solution back into the jar.

I like to scrub the remaining deox from the stem with vigorous use of a coarse shop rag.

The coarse texture of the rag absorbs the solution and removes more of the oxidized rubber as can be seen below.

The stem was certainly looking more black this time. There remained brown areas especially on the top side of the stem. I sanded the stem with a series of sanding sponges from 400-1000 grit. The zone immediately (1 cm) below the button was filed using the small flat file and further sanded. Once sanded I returned to the buffer and buffed the stem with white compound.

Pleased with the stem, I turned my attention to recarving the rustications on top of the fills. I used the Dremel rotary tool and a sharp carving bit.

I tried to keep the lines pretty much the same but to carve through the fill material. I very much wanted to eliminate any shiny CA spots.

The newly carved textures looked good but their color was off when compared to the rest of the shank.

I used a Mahogany Furniture Touch-up Marker to re-stain the briar to match the existing color.

Not bad.

Not bad, at all.

The stummel was given a coat of Before and After Restoration Balm, applied with a baby toothbrush and allowed to sit for 20 minutes.

20 Minutes later the Restoration Balm was hand buffed from the stummel using an inside out athletic sock.

The baby toothbrush was cleaned using 95% ethyl alcohol. Renaissance Micro-Crystalline Wax was applied to the stummel using the baby toothbrush. I applied two coats of wax allowing 10 minutes between coats.

The stummel was taken to the buffer where it was buffed using a clean flannel wheel. While there I applied several coats of carnauba wax to the stem and the stampings on the underside of the shank.

To address those two rough spots from previous reaming/scraping inside the tobacco chamber, I opted to use a maple syrup and charcoal bowl coating. I applied a very thin coating of syrup to the chamber using a cotton swab.

I then used a capsule of Activated Charcoal dumped into the chamber. Oh, note the pipe cleaner in the shank. This keeps the charcoal from getting into the airway. I covered the rim with a piece of masking tape and vigorously shook the stummel for several seconds to distribute the charcoal powder evenly onto the wet syrup.

After removing the tape, dumping the excess charcoal and giving the stem a good blow, don’t draw in, you’ll get a mouthful of charcoal. The final step was a hand buffing done with a microfiber polishing cloth.

This was a long and troublesome restoration. Little things like; not having the ¼ inch brass tubing and waiting for it to arrive, the old glue removal, fitting the brass reinforcement tube, cutting the tenon, and being dumb and skipping steps, made the whole process last for many days. In the end, I think the pipe turned out well. Yeah, like the pipedia.org article says, “A somewhat more bargain series”, it is a cheaper pipe. I enjoy the challenge of returning a pipe like this to working condition. The re-carvings turned out very nicely as did the re-staining. I think you would be hard pressed to notice the break repair if you could not see the seam on the smooth stamp surface. The stem also did polish up fairly well. The brass reinforcement will certainly add strength to the pipe and should keep it from having another break. It is still a dainty little pipe which would probably be a great addition to someone who loves Virginia flake tobacco in a tall narrow bowl. The dimensions of the Lorenzo Spitfire Bent Billiard 849 are as follows:

Length: 5.37 in./ 136.40 mm.

Weight: 0.87 oz./ 24.66 g.

Bowl Height: 2.02 in./ 51.31 mm.

Chamber Depth: 1.75 in./ 44.45 mm.

Chamber Diameter: 0.61 in./ 15.49 mm.

Outside Diameter: 1.24 in./ 31.50 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 Lorenzo Spitfire Bent Billiard 8497.
A No Name Canadian Restoration

April 19th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

Why is it that some pipes can’t qualify for the maker stamping their name on the pipe? Not to sound like President Biden but, “Come on, man.” IMPORTED BRIAR is not enough of a name to mean anything except that your briar is imported (Duh, isn’t it all imported?) and that the pipe was likely made in the US after World War 2 (WWII).

Fortunately our government is there protecting us from the diabolical domestic terrorist native briar cartels. As can be seen by,

“Section 304 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1304)

provides that, unless excepted, every article of foreign origin

imported into the U.S. shall be marked in a conspicuous place as

legibly, indelibly, and permanently as the nature of the article (or

container) will permit, in such a manner as to indicate to the ultimate

purchaser in the U.S. the English name of the country of origin of the

article. Congressional intent in enacting 19 U.S.C. 1304 was that the

ultimate purchaser should be able to know by an inspection of the

marking on the imported goods the country of which the goods is the

product.

    Part 134, Customs Regulations (19 CFR Part 134), implements the

country of origin marking requirements and exceptions of 19 U.S.C.

1304. As provided in section 134.41, Customs Regulations (19 CFR

134.41), the country of origin marking is considered to be conspicuous

if the ultimate purchaser in the U.S. is able to find the marking

easily and read it without strain.”

(https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-1994-11-15/html/94-28159.htm)

Use your best Yoda impression to read the following, “The sarcasm is strong in this one.”

Okay, what are we looking at with this restoration?

The Restoration

Perhaps it is for the best that little information can be gleaned from the stamping to the heritage of this pipe. All that background and history research would just keep me from addressing the things that need fixing with this pipe. First off there is a clear coat to eliminate. Then there is the standard reaming and cleaning, followed by repairing the damaged rim and stem. I think the briar would benefit from a contrast stain allowing for a highlight red to be accented by black. Stay tuned to see what happens.

Of course I will begin with a clean denim piece protecting the work surface. Someday I will get around to stripping the finish from this old roll top desk that I use as a workbench. It has a shellac finish that does not agree with spilled alcohol or acetone. A polyurethane would make more sense but it was my grandfather’s desk and I don’t want to alter it too much.

I worked on reaming the tobacco chamber first. The PipNet with a #2 blades after I had scraped the hard dry cake a bit with the General triangular scraper. The problem was that the chamber had a diameter that was a touch too large for the #2 blades and too small for the #3 blades. This meant more scraping.

The chamber was sanded with 220 sandpaper to get to clean briar then finish sanded with 320 sandpaper. There was no heat damage observed in the chamber.

That brings us to the rim. The lava deposits made inspection of the rim difficult. Though there did appear to be charring at the 8 o’clock position of the photo below and around the inside edge of the rim from 3-8 o’clock.

The rim was moistened with saliva then scraped with a shape pocket knife.

A further scraping revealed that the rim damage was all around the rim. The charing was also around most of the inside edge. Topping this stummel and removing the dents and dings would be required. I was hoping to only remove about 1/16 of an inch, 1-2 mm of briar from the rim. Beveling of both the inside and outside edges would remove the edge damage and keep me from removing even more briar.

After the reaming of the tobacco chamber, I poured 2-3 ml of 99% isopropyl alcohol into the chamber and allowed the alcohol to flow into the shank. I then used a nylon shank brush to scrub the airway. I poured this alcohol into a clean medicine cup. I was surprised that the alcohol did not have the dark color that I had expected. The long shank would make scraping the airway very difficult.

The stummel was taken to the sink. Here I used undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a medium stiff toothbrush to scrub the exterior of the stummel. The stummel was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton washcloth. I then decided to check the shank airway by using the shank brush with a bit of Dawn dish soap. I was still having trouble believing that the airway was as clean as the alcohol led me to believe. The Dawn shank brush scrub did not result in dark lather. Maybe the previous owner did keep the airway clean. The evidence was mounting in his favor but the question lingered, “If the rim was that fouled with lava, why did he keep the airway clean?”

I returned to the workbench for another go at cleaning the airway. About 5 ml of 99% isopropyl alcohol was used this time and scrubbed with the shank brush. When this alcohol was poured out I saw the dark color I had expected. The airway was dirty; it had just taken a bit of scrubbing to soften the yuck (yuck is a highly technical term to describe the smoking residue). It was present, not easily scraped and needed to be removed. This was going to be a long one. I just realized the unintended pun, there – long shank, long cleaning job.

Before I started the shank airway cleaning I wanted to top the stummel and remove the clear coat as it got sticky with the alcohol.

The topping was done by moving the stummel in a circular motion on a clean sheet of 220 sandpaper laid flat on a countertop. Every 3-4 circles I would rotate the stummel in my hand to keep an even pressure of all sides of the stummel. I wanted to remove about 1/16 inch or 2 mm of briar from the rim. This would not be enough to eliminate the rim edge damage but I figured I could remedy that by beveling the outside edge of the rim.

Next, I first tried removing it with 95% ethyl alcohol. That worked albeit slowly.

I then tried wiping it with acetone. This worked better and faster.

With the finish mostly removedI set to cleaning the stem. The airway was cleaned with bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 99% isopropyl alcohol. The outside was lightly sanded with a 320 grit sanding sponge then with Soft Scrub applied to make-up pads.

Next came the shank cleaning. The long shank did not allow for effective scraping with a dental scraper. The cleaning did utilize a nylon shank brush with numerous scrubbings of the airway with 5 ml of 95% alcohol poured into the bowl and allowed to flow into the shank. While in the airway the alcohol was scrubbed with the brush. Below you can see the medicine cup use to collect the alcohol after the scrubbing.

There were a couple of dents in the lower left section of the stummel. I used a hot iron and a damp rag to raise these.

Below is a photo of the stummel partially wrapped in the wetted cotton rag and pressed against the hot clothes iron.

The steam from the iron heated water raised the dents very nicely.

After the shank was cleaned the pits on the stummel were filled using a small drop of cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) and briar dust. A small drop of CA was applied to the pit then sanded with a 400 sanding sponge. The dust from the sponge combines with the wet CA to fill the pit. Additional applications were used for deeper pits.

I wanted a contrast dye that had a base of black with a secondary dye of red. I hoped that this would give the pipe an accented grain in black with reddish hued highlights. To achieve this I first dyed the stummel black with Fiebing’s Leather dye. The dye was applied with a folded pipe cleaner and flamed with a disposable lighter.

A duct tape wrapped fishing bobber was used to keep dye from the tobacco chamber and to act as a handle.

The black dye was then wiped from the stummel using several make-up pads dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.

The stummel was then sanded with a 320 sanding sponge to remove the outermost black dyed briar leaving the underlying black dyed briar in place, accentuating the grain.

A second dying of the stummel was then done with Fiebing’s Dark Red Leather Dye.

This was then wiped from the stummel using alcohol dipped make-up pads.

The sanding of the stummel with a 400 grit sanding sponge then wiped with a clean alcohol dipped make-up pad resulted in the stummel looking quite red, below. Notice the strange surface crack just above center – this was filled using thin CA then sanded, with the sanding dust filling the crack.

Below is the contrast dyed stummel before any sanding with finer sanding sponges.

I felt like this pipe was living up to the unofficial Nebraska motto – Go Big Red.

Next on the list was the stem repair. I admit to getting into the “stem repair” mode and losing track of documenting the process. I start by de-oiling the areas to be repaired with an alcohol dipped cotton swab. Then small drops of black CA are placed into the depressions on the stem. The wet CA is spritzed with a CA drying accelerator. Once dry or cured the CA is filed with a flat needle file. If the depression is deep it may take several small drops of CA and subsequent spritzes with an accelerator to fill the depression. That was the case here. When I started photographing, I was already filing the second application.

A third application was applied and spread around to thin over a larger area using the tip of the applicator on the bottle. This was then spritzed, filed and sanded with a 400 grit sanding sponge. The next two photos show the depressions filled and sanded with the 4000 sponge.

The stem was slightly “over-clocked”. This led to the stem not aligning correctly with the stummel, as it had been over tightened. There are two ways to address this:

1) to heat the aluminum screw-in tenon until the stem is slightly melted, then rotate the aluminum to the correct position and allow it to cool.

2) Add a light layer of black CA to the edge of the stem and allow it to cure.

Both methods work but come with downsides of being time consuming and tedious. I chose to use the adding of black CA to the stem. Since the alignment was very sligh, only a few degrees I only needed to “paint” or apply a single coat of black CA to the stem.

The pipe was sanded intact. I wanted to smooth out the mortise tenon joint as the original fit was less than smooth feeling. I used a series of sanding sponges with grits from 1000-3500, in sequence. Between each sponge the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad wetted with alcohol while the stemI received a bit of mineral oil rubbed in by fingertip then wiped with a paper towel.

After the sanding sponges I used a sequence of micro-mesh pads from 4000-12000. The stummel was wiped between each pad as above. The stem received a drop of Obsidian Oil between pads, rubbed in by fingertip and wiped with a paper towel.

The pipe then was coated with Before and After Restoration Balm. The balm was allowed to sit for 15 minutes.

The excess balm was wiped with an inside-out cotton athletic sock to reveal a beautiful rejuvenated contrast dyed briar.

The stem was further polished using Before and After Fine Polish. The polish was applied by fingertip and hand buffed with a soft cotton cloth.

The polishing was finished using the Before and After Extra Fine Polish using the above procedures.

The final step was to apply several coats of carnauba wax using the buffer.

I am quite pleased with how well this Italian Canadian of unknown make turned out. It is a large pipe yet is surprisingly light in hand. The contrast staining yielded the color that I had in my mind as I was imagining how it would look finished. The screw-in tenon fits and aligns well. Though not the most beautiful grain the contrast stain definitely improved the look of the briar and is accentuated by the high gloss black stem. I am certain that this will be a nice smoking pipe even without a maker’s stamp.

The dimensions of this large Canadian are:
- Length: 6.67 in./ 169.42 mm.
- Weight: 1.40 oz./ 39.8 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: 1.46 in./ 37.08 mm.
I do hope that you have found something here useful to your own pipe care, maintenance or restorations. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished no name Italian Canadian.

I think I might have to start selling these post restoration denim pieces as wall art.
A Pipe Den Zulu Restoration

April 17th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

The Pipe Den, the name harkens back to a day of local pipe and tobacco shops which our world appears to have mostly left in the past. Many pipe smokers love our local brick and mortar shops and it warms our hearts to hear the success stories of the local shop that is surviving in the world of big internet retailers. I live within an hour drive of one such shop and I admit to visiting it about once a year to stock up on a local blend assembled there. The place has a cigar lounge and will infuse your clothing with cigar aroma at no cost. I have been the only pipe smoker present on my last two visits. The world I live in enables me to have pipe tobacco from all over the world available with the convenience of no 60 minute drive in city traffic and the thrill of opening the aromatic box, freeing the imprisoned contents and allowing them to join their tobacco blend brethren in glass jars upon a shelf.

I warmly remember the smell of David’s Briar Shop in a local mall Westroads in the 1970’s and 80’s. That smell is firmly locked into the vault and I have to admit to wishing to experience it again. It is a nostalgic smell that when reminiscing with others about the mall, has never met with someone saying “I hate that smell”. To the contrary, it seems to only incite fond memories. These are the memories that stir when I work on a pipe stamped with the name of a pipe shop.

This Zulu came to me as part of an estate lot. Let me show you what I was looking at with this Pipe Den Zulu.

Background on the Pipe Den

The Pipe Den is a shop from Vero Beach Florida. According to the internet, source of only honest, truthful and accurate information, the Pipe Den still operates today. According to their website, Bob Marshbanks has been, “Serving pipe and cigar enthusiasts since 1977. We are your premier cigar, pipe and tobacco shop” (https://pipedenvero.com/). The website does not offer any online shopping yet invites patrons to the actual store to see what they have to offer. There is no mention of specific pipes but they do state the following:

“We offer a large selection of top quality pipes made by the world’s best pipe makers. I personally guarantee all my pipes, even “starter” pipes. Many “production” made pipes are manufactured of “Green” briar, heavily stained, varnished to cover poor grain and imperfections and smoke “hot”. To order a pipe, select your shape preference and let me know the price range you have in mind. Choose natural, dark or sandblast finishes. This will allow me flexibility in my efforts to ensure that you will get the very finest pipe available from my selection.

Even easier, just call, we can discuss your preferences and we can be more sure of the selection. I also have a selection of one-of-a-kind and freehand, hand carved Meershaum and Estate pipes.

The relaxed atmosphere at The Pipe Den is there for everyone. You are welcome anytime to come by, sit and enjoy a good cigar, fill your pipe bowl and get away from the hassles. I specialize in friendly old fashioned service.” (https://pipedenvero.com/pipes-%E2%80%A2-hints-%26-tips)

Here is a very nice review of the Pie Den with some photos taken by the author: The Pipe Den in Vero Beach My New Happy Spot in Florida (classyvice.com)

The question of who made this pipe for Pipe Den remains. In looking at the stem I see similarities to a couple of other pipes that I own. I have two Jobey pipes that appear to have very similar identical stems. They are saddle stems with a near 90 degree shoulder.

The quality of briar and the original stain color also match quite well. Given those last two qualities are hardly good indicators of a shared heritage but they do look similar. When looking up Jobey on pipedi.org, the first sentence of the entry says, “English – American – Danish – French… Sadly, solid information about Jobey is scamt…”(Jobey – Pipedia) Even misspelling scant. This should tell me something, what, I am not sure. The pipedia.org article goes on to discuss possible origins of the Jobey company. The most likely hypothesis, to me, is that Jobey was an American company and a subsidiary of the Norwalk Pipe Corporation (Norwalk Pipe Co. – Pipedia) and later sold to Weber. There is also another discussion mentioning that, “Weber Pipe Co. owned and manufactured Jobey pipes – when mainly sold in the USA by the Tinder Box from 1970’s – 80’s. In addition Jobey / Weber bought Danish freehands from Karl Erik (Ottendahl). These pipes were offered as Jobey Dansk. Ottendahl discontinued exports to the United States in 1987 and in the very same year – obviously only as a ghost brand – Jobey was transferred to Saint-Claude, France to be manufactured by Butz-Choquin.”(Weber Pipe Co. – Pipedia). This I believe is the most likely suspect. The Pipe Den Zulu has a Jobey/Weber feel to it. I can’t explain that other than the word “feel”. The age would fit for the Pipe Den history, according to their website the Pipe Den opened in 1977. I am of the opinion that this Pipe Den Zule was a Weber made pipe likely from the late 1970’s – 1980’s.

The Restoration

In the beginning… No, that sounds too biblical. How about, this restoration began with a clean piece of denim laid out on the workbench? Much better.

The fit of the stem was too tight and was left partially inserted to avoid dressing the mortise. The stem was also in dire need of oxidized vulcanite removal. That is where I began.

I sanded the stem with a 600 grit sanding sponge to remove the calcium deposits, surface oxidation and light tooth chatter. You can see that I used the denim to clean the sponge.

Next the interior of the stem was cleaned using bristle pipe cleaners and a nylon brush dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.

With the stem cleaned inside and out, It was time to go into the Before and After Deoxidizing solution. A pipe cleaner was used as a hanger to suspend the stem in the solution.

I refer to this as the deox tank or deox, as a play on words with detoxification or detox for alcoholics and drug addicts.

With the stem in deox, I turned my attention to the reaming of the tobacco chamber. The below tools were assembled.

The chamber was bored with a very conical bit and did not fit the PipNet reamer at the bottom. This required more scraping with the Smokingpipes Low Country Reamer and the General triangular scraper.

The interior of the chamber was sanded to bare briar and no evidence of heat damage could be observed. The rim was the next target of restoration. I could see damage around the outer edge from tapping out dottle on surfaces not meant for tapping. There was also a thick coating of lava.

The lava was scraped with care and a sharp pocket knife after being moistened with saliva.

The stummel was then taken to the sink. Here it was scrubbed using a medium stiff toothbrush and undiluted Murphy Oil Soap. The soap was rinsed with warm water. At this point I decided to scrub the airway of the shank with a nylon shank brush and a bit of Dawn dish soap. The airwar was rinsed with warm water and the stummel was dried with a cotton washcloth.

Back at the workbench the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol to remove any remaining wax or finish. The pad came back with reddish brown, indicating that I was removing some of the original stain. No finish could be observed.

The cleaning of the shank was next on the list. I poured about 4 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into the bowl and allowed it to flow into but not out of the shank. I used a nylon shank brush to scrub the airway with the alcohol present. I then poured this alcohol into a medicine cup to be used until it was too blackened from dissolved tar. After the alcohol scrub I returned to the sink and scrubbed the airway with undiluted Castile soap. Then abc to the workbench for an alcohol scrub. This rotation continued until my nylon brush was no longer turning black with tar.

Between scrubbing rotations I would scrape the airway with a dental scraper and scrub with cotton swabs. Eventually the airway was cleaned.

14 hours later, I retrieved the stem from the Before and After Deoxidizing solution. I allowed it to drip off excess solution for a few minutes.

Below the stem is on my preferred coarse cotton shop rag. I like this rag for buffing a stem after the solution as it absorbs the remaining solution and abbrades some of the loosened oxidized vulcanite.

Below is the stem after the buffing with the rag.

After the hand buffing I used several make-up pads with Soft Scrub to further remove oxidized material from the stem. I could have sworn that I photographed the pads but failed to find the photos. Further proof than getting old is not for the… What was I saying?

The stem was then coated with mineral oil both inside and out.

There were a few small pits which needed to be filled prior to taking on the damaged rim. The small fills were repaired by placing a small drop of cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) into the pit then sanding immediately over the pit. The dust from the sanding and sanding sponge combined with the CA to fill the pit. Two applications were sometimes needed for slightly larger pits. Now to deal with that damaged rim I did not want to top the rim and remove an ⅛+ inch or 3-4 mm of briar thus changing the shape of the stummel. I lightly topped the pipe to restore sharp edges on the undamaged rim. My plan was to apply a bead of brown CA to the damaged outside edge of the rim then press it into a container of briar dust. The briar dust would then be combined with the CA to make a hard briar incorporated fill which could be sanded smooth.

Below is the bead of CA around the damaged areas

Below is after the first dip of the wet CA into the briar dust. The excess dust was scraped off with a pocket knife.

Below is a photo of the new edge. It would require a couple more beads of CA and dust dips but it was working.

Below is dust dip number two.

After filing and sanding the edge was restored. The fill did appear darker than the supporting briar but that would be addressed with a contrast dye (more on that later).

Now, to conceal the darker edge, I figured a darker stain or dye with the surface sanded away would provide a nice contrast showing off the grain of the briar and concealing the repairs. In preparation for this dye job, I wanted to keep the dye from the stamp if possible. I covered the stamp with a slightly irregularly cut piece of painters tape. I wanted it irregular to avoid the “CENSORED” block look.

I mixed equal volumes of both black and dark brown Fiebing’s Leather dye and added a couple of ml of 95% ethyl alcohol to allow them to mix thoroughly. The dye was applied with a folded pipe cleaner and flamed with a disposable lighter to burn off excess alcohol in the dye and set the dye to the briar.

Below you can see the tape had ignited during the flaming. Oops.

Back at the workbench, the stem appeared black.

I wiped the excess dye from the stummel. Several alcohol dipped make-up pads later the stummel can be seen to have a very dark brown color. Oh yeah, I actually remembered the nitrile gloves this time. I bet you didn’t see that coming?

The stummel was then sanded with a 400 grit sanding sponge to remove the outer layer of dark dyed briar.

Next the damaged stem needed to be repaired. Below are the top and bottom surfaces of the stem.

Black CA was applied to the depressions on both the top and bottom of the stem. The CA was then spritzed with a CA drying accelerator.

These were then filed with a flat needle file until flush with the surrounding stem. Both top and bottom required a second application of CA. I prefer to use several light coats compared to a single large coat of the CA.

Additional filing and sanding eventually led to the below photos of the top and bottom of the stem.

The stem was then sanded using a sequence of sanding sponges in grits 1000-3500. Between each sponge I applied a bit of mineral oil then wiped with a paper towel.

After the sanding sponges I used a sequence of 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads. Between each pad I rubbed in a small drop of Obsidian Oil and wiped the stem with a paper towel.

On to sanding the stummel. It was sanded with the sanding sponges 1000-3500. Between each sponge the stummel was wiped with an alcohol dampened make-up pad.

The stummel was then worked with a sequence of 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads. Between each pad the stummel was wiped as with the sanding sponges.

The stem then received polishing with Before and After fine then Extra Fine polish. Both were applied by finger and hand buffed using a soft cotton cloth.

The stummel then was given a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm and allowed to sit for 20 minutes.

The excess Restoration Balm was removed with an inside out cotton athletic sock to reveal a lovely grained briar.

The pipe then received several coats of carnauba wax from the buffer.

Overall I am pleased with how well this Pipe Den Zulu turned out. I love the shape though I would appreciate a slightly larger size. The repairs of the rim and stem came out better than anticipated. The briar grain was accentuated by the contrast dye and shows itself far better now than when it was buried by years of grime. Though the make of this very nice little pipe may never be known I am sure that it can find a new stewart who will get years of enjoyment from it.

The dimensions of this little beauty are:
- Length: 6.06 in./ 153.92 mm.
- Weight: 1.05 oz./ 29.7 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.94 in./ 49.27 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.59 in./ 40.39 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.77 in./ 19.56 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.31 in./ 30.28 mm.
I do hope that you have found something here useful to your own pipe care, maintenance or restorations. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Pipe Den Zulu.
A Large Italian Oval Shank Billiard Restoration

April 11th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

Well, I have good news and bad news. Or maybe, it’s good news and good news. I have an Italian oval shank billiard, here. The bad news is that I can’t do much about the history of a pipe when the only stamp on it is “ITALY”. Now, if you find my histories or background sections annoying this is good news. The other good news is how well this pipe turned out. She is a very attractive no name.

The pipe came to me as part of an estate lot purchased in March of 2024. It was not the target of the lot. After looking over the pipes I found the shank shape very interesting. It was kind of an oval but with points on the ends and it was tapered from wide at the bowl to narrower at the stem. I thought that it was more like a Canadian shape but Canadian shanks are not tapered. The grain of the briar looked pretty uninteresting, at first glance, and there were no identifying markings so, it went back into the box of future projects. Several weeks later I was looking through the box again and the stem drew me back to the pipe. Here is what I was seeing:

Just another old pipe, right? But that shank was cool. I thought, “wait, there is some interesting grain under the grime and crappy stain. This old girl will clean up nice.” Well, spoiler alert – A contrast stain would really show off the grain. Yeah, the stem was a mess, she was dirty, there were pits to fill, and who knows what lies under that lava covered rim?

The Restoration

As usual a clean denim piece was added to the workbench. I knew this piece of denim was not going to look clean for very long.

I began with the stem. I figured that it was going to be in the Before and After Deoxidizing solution for several hours so, best to get it in there first. I sanded the worst of the oxidation and calcium from the stem with a 320 grit sanding sponge.

Yep, so much for the clean denim.

Next I cleaned out the inside of the stem with bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. Ignore the aluminum stinger soaking in the alcohol, that’s part of another project. After the cleaning the stem went into deox (my term for the Before and After Deoxidizing solution).

With the stem in deox, I turned to reaming the stummel. The pipe had a large diameter bowl and was drilled with a tapered tobacco chamber. This required using the PipNet with the #2, #3 and the Scotte reaming tools.

The reaming was finished with the General triangular scraper and sanded with 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel. The tobacco chamber showed no signs of any heat damage. The rim on the other hand was still doing it’s impression of a Hawian island with it’s lava flows.

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

After the reaming and rim scraping the stummel was taken to the sink. Here it was scrubbed with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a medium stiff toothbrush. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton dish towel.

After the scrub, I sanded the stummelwith 320 and 400 grit sanding sponges searching for pits, dents and dings to fill.

Several were found a couple had to have the old fill or dirt picked from them. ALl were filled using brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) and briar dust.

The next day, I returned to the deox tank. The stem had been soaking for 12-14 hours. I removed the stem and let the excess solution drip back into the jar.

The stem was then hand buffed with a coarse shop rag.

Returning to the workbench I started scrubbing the stem with Soft Scrub on make-up pads.

I progressed to using the Soft Scrub with the remnants of my Magic Eraser.

Once the pads started to provide a significantly less color change the step was coated with mineral oil and allowed to sit.

I thought that a contrast stain would allow the grain of the briar to be more apparent. I chose Dark Brown mixed with Black Fiebing’s Leather Dye. I mixed the brown to black at a 2:1 ratio. Prior to applying the dye I heated the stummel with the heat gun, shown below. The dye was applied with a folded pipe cleaner and flamed with the lighter. Two coats were applied and flamed.

Returning to the workbench, I dipped make-up pads into 95% ethyl alcohol and wiped the stummel. I wanted to get as much of the dye off of the stummel as possible.

Once the dye had been wiped from the stummel I started sanding the surface with a 320 sanding sponge. The sponge needed to be wiped off on the denim frequently to free it from the accumulated briar dust. Below shows the stummel ½ sanded illustrating the accentuation of the grain.

When finished with the 320 sanding sponge I sanded with a 400 sponge. Between the sandings I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad dipped in alcohol.

I wanted to sand the stem and the stummel together to avoid rounding the edges of each piece. This meant that I needed to finish the stem. I wiped the mineral oil from the stem and used a cotton swab dipped in alcohol to clean the oil from the area I would be working on. I used black CA to fill the tooth dents.

I applied the black CA into the dents and spritzed the stem with a CA drying accelerator.

The cured CA was then filed smooth with a flat needle file.

Additional coats of CA were added to further smooth and blend the repaired areas.

I prefer to work with several light coats rather than a single heavy coat of CA. Below the dark spots are areas where another application is needed to fill a depression.

Below is after filing and sanding to 400 grit.

The same process was done for the bottom side of the stem.

Once the stem had been sanded with the 600 grit sanding sponge the two pieces were reattached and the pipe was sanded together. The 1000-3500 sanding sponges were used in series with care not to sand the ITALY stamp. Between each sponge the stummel was wiped off with an alcohol moistened make-up pad. The stem had a bit of mineral oil rubbed inby fingertip and then wiped with a paper towel.

The pipe was then polished with a series of micro-mesh pads from 4000-12000. Between each pad the stummel was wiped off with an alcohol moistened make-up pad. The stem had a small drop of Obsidian Oil rubbed in by fingertip and then wiped with a paper towel.

The stummel received a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm and was allowed to sit for 20 minutes.

20 minutes later the Restoration Balm was wiped from the stummel using an inside-out athletic sock.

The final step of the restoration was to apply several coats of carnauba wax to the pipe using a buffer.

This lovely Italian oval shank billiard may not have a stamp indicating a maker and will thus be considered a “less than” pipe but looking at the before and after photo below, I dare you to call her “less than”. She is more than average in quality of briar, workmanship and quality of finish. I am quite pleased at how well this billiard turned out. The stem had me a bit

worried but after the repair it polished up nicely. The Contrast stain did indeed make the briar grain shine. This old girl will be a grand smoker and will hopefully bring someone many years of enjoyment.

The dimensions of this little beauty are:
- Length: 5.50 in./ 139.7 mm.
- Weight: 1.34 oz./ 37.80 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.97 in./ 50.04 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.72 in./ 43.69 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: .82 in./ 20.83 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.

Below are some photos of the finished Italian No Name Oval Shank Billiard.

Wow, I have to work on that button. The bright light makes it look oxidized.

By the way, here is the finished piece of denim.
A Savinelli Roma 677 KS Salvage Operation

April 1st, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

I remember a good friend of mine saying, “There are two kinds of battles in the world: Those worth fighting and those that aren’t. If it’s worth fighting then you’d better be damn sure you’re going to win.” Spoken like the true F-4 pilot that he was and darn good advice. So, why in the world did I try to restore the above dismal darling? I mean, you can buy a new one for under $100. That poor thing’s issues had issues. Perhaps it was Saint Jude Thadeus whispering in my ear? No, I’m not Catholic. Maybe it was because my right shoulder angel had a substitute that day and it was a Bad-Idea Fairy. Whatever the reason, I decided that this Savinelli Roma would live to smoke again.

Well deciding something and actually carrying through with the decision are two dramatically different things. If you frequent my ramblings, thank you, you may remember a similarly damaged Savinelli, Porto Cervo 677 KS. If you are new here, thank you as well. I’ll link it here for those who might be interested. This pipe had issues that the previous Savinelli had nightmares about. OK, I’ll show you what I mean rather than taunting your imagination with unspeakable eldritch pipeological horrors (yeah, I tried to make it sound like an H. P. Lovecraft horror story there).

Still, pretty scary, eh? The list of things to be addressed were long and would certainly stretch my comfort level as a restorer. The stem would need a great deal of oxidation removal and rebuilding of material to once again have a functional button. The bowl interior was charred and misshapen. The exterior would need reshaping, retextured, restrained and refinished. All of that was just discernible from a cursory evaluation. What diabolical horrors would lie within? Okay, there I go again in Lovecraft mode. Apologies.

Background on Savinelli

A good deal of this background is information what I wrote or ,used from other sources, from the Savinelli Porto Cervo restoration. I am a Generation-X slacker and have to live up to (or down) to that reputation.

Early Origins

“1876 was a year of breakthroughs: Thomas Edison patented the mimeograph, Julius Wolff-Eastport canned sardines for the first time, Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call,

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky completed Swan Lake, Melville Bissel patented the first carpet sweeper, Mark Twain published Tom Sawyer, and in Milan, Italy, Achille Savinelli opened one of the first shops exclusively focused on tobacco and smoking accessories.

That last item may seem relatively unimportant in the global scheme of advancements, but for those of us who love pipes, it was a monumental achievement, made even more difficult by the Italian government, which held a monopoly on tobacco. In addition, Achille was convinced that briar pipes represented the future of pipe smoking at a time when the market was dominated by clay and meerschaum. It may not have been obvious in 1876, but Achille Savinelli’s commitment to briar pipes would prove to be visionary.

He soon began designing his own pipes (different from the styling we associate with Savinelli today) and arranged their manufacture by local pipemakers in the Varese district of north-west Italy. The pipes became so popular that some were exhibited at the 1881 Esposizione Industriale Italiana (Italian Industrial Exposition)—the precursor to today’s Milan Fair, one of the largest trade fairs in the world.” (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Savinelli)

Post-WWII

“With his two best friends, Amleto Pomé and Mario Vettoruzzo, he assembled a team of fifteen employees to start a new business in the Varese region—the same area of northwest Italy in which his grandfather, Achille Sr., commissioned his own designs more than 60 years before.

Savinelli Pipes began production in 1948 and, although the pipes were of a superior quality and unique in their aesthetic, the brand wasn’t an immediate success. Few new brands are. It takes time for the public to catch on. Retailers were skeptical of placing Italian pipes alongside their best sellers from England or France, and customers, in turn, were hesitant to purchase a Savinelli over pipes by already established, foreign brands. Achille Jr. stood by his product, however; he knew it was only a matter of time before the world realized that these pipes were of a far superior quality, capable of competing with even the most well-established pipe manufacturers in the world. As it turns out, he was right. In less than a year, Savinelli pipes gained prestige in markets all across the world—heralded for their delicate balance of innovation and tradition, of form and function. Savinelli pipes were placed alongside the likes of Dunhill and Comoy’s in tobacconists from the United States to Europe, and, in time, this exposure modified Italy’s reputation; it was not only the premier exporter of briar, but now a premium source of fine briar pipes.” (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Savinelli)

The term “Roma” in English often relates to the ethnic people, Roma or Romani. In Italian Roma is Rome. I highly doubt that a worldwide company like Savinelli is referring to anything other than Rome with this line of pipes.

The current Savinelli line continues to offer a Roma 677 KS but with a lucite stem.

DESCRIPTION

Savinelli Roma Lucite pipe shows a charming and modern composition. The dark rusticated finish color highly contrasts with the bright colors of the particular acrylic stem. 677 KS is a model with great appeal. Its triangular shank ,which only few manufacturers are able to offer, easily slides into the perfectly carved bowl. A really well designed pipe.

(https://www.savinelli.it/rw_en/savinelli-roma-lucite-677-ks.html)

I add the below description of a Savineli Apple, 626 due to the nice description of the styling of the line.

DESCRIPTION

Roma Series is for sure one of the most famous Savinelli pipe in the world. Its dark rusticated finish gives a very masculine style. Thanks to the smooth bowl’s rim you could appreciate how a finish can change the briar final color result. In fact both rim and bowl are stained using the same natural burgundy color. A little brass band adorn the ebonite stem. Model 626 fully personifies all the Apple style elegance. Its soft lines and dimensions make it an aesthetically and well-proportioned pipe.

(https://www.savinelli.it/rw_en/savinelli-roma-626.html)

The 677 KS shape is “A bent Billiard with a supple, Brandy-like taper toward the rim, Savinelli’s “677 KS” is a compact yet full-bodied take on the classic English shape. Per the Italian marque’s shaping conventions, Savinelli has elaborated on the standard design, adding mass to the base and transition with extra height and taper lent to the bowl, all paired to one of their signature triangular shanks.” according to Smokingpipes.com. That is a mouthful of a description. Also you will later see that the “extra height” is a bit less extra after the restoration. The three digit shape code for Savinelli pipes was established in the 1970s according to information from pipephil.eu. One more detail is the “KS” – this stands for King Size.

(Document: Savinelli shape chart — Pipes : Logos & Markings – (pipephil.eu))

The Restoration

I started this restoration with a clean piece of denim on the workbench. In the back of my mind I was thinking, “you are going to need a couple of those,”

I admit that I was more than a bit daunted by the prospect of rusticating or texturing a stummel to match the amazing work that Savinelli does. So, I avoided that part. I addressed the part of the pipe I felt comfortable working on – the stem. Yeah, I know, “chicken, buck buck bawk.”

The stem had thick calcium deposits on both top and bottom, I scraped these with a sharp pocket knife and sanded with a 320 grit sanding sponge.

The remaining calcium was picked from the dents using a dental pick and brushing with an alcohol dipped brass brush.

Next the interior of the stem was cleaned using 95% ethyl alcohol, bristle pipe cleaners and cotton swabs.

It was at this point I started to rebuild the damage caused by the clenching habits of the previous owner. In hindsight, I wish that I would have scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub with Oxiclean at this time and worked on the rebuilding after that. Alas, I hope that you can learn from what I consider my mistakes. I used a product that was newer to me, Bob Smith Industries IC-2000. It is a cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) which has been toughened with rubber. It is designed to be used with rubber and sounds like it would be perfect for this use. I applied an initial few dabs to the depressions of both the top and bottom of the stem.

I use a CA drying accelerator to speed the drying of the CA. Both surfaces were spritzed with this accelerator. It makes the CA cure or dry in seconds. The cured CA was then filed with a flat needle file and smoothed with a 400 grit sanding sponge. The shiny surfaces in the photos below are areas where the file and sandpaper rode above and did not contact the CA in the depression. Further applications were required to fill the entire depression. I prefer to use several thin applications over a single thick application.

More applications followed by more filing and sanding. Voila.

And then of course there is more sanding. Here is where I scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub with Oxiclean.

I am not sure if this discolored the CA fills or if the new rubberized CA doesn’t have the same black color as the CA that I was used to previously. Either way I was not as happy with the results as I had been previously. Here is a photo of the finished stem and the fill is much more obvious than what I was used to.

Leaving my comfort zone, I started working on the stummel. This started out normally with the gathering of the reaming tools.

I began with the #2 blades in the PipNet reaming tool. This is where “normal” stopped and became “is this pipe salvageable” started. The cake was dry, hard and brittle. The reaming was a very rough feeling with large pieces of both cake and charred briar breaking off. The chamber was very rough and uneven. I moved to the #3 blades. They fit into the mouth of the chamber and with effort removed the cake and charred briar to the bottom of the chamber.

Scrapping with the reaming knife and General triangular scraper revealed large area of severely charred wood. This was chipped and broken out as thoroughly as possible. Some of the damaged wood was still strong while other places were quite brittle. Eventually the soft damaged wood was removed allowing me to sand the interior with the 220 sandpaper wrapped dowel. I failed to take photographs of the chamber, perhaps in fear of my inability to remedy the situation. The best photo I had was the following:

In the above photo the middle chamber area was undercut by several millimeters. I Thought it too deep to effectively use J.B. Weld, a product which I had successfully used for charred briar in the past. This time though, the damage was much more severe and the volume of material to be replaced was far greater. I decided to move on and think about other options.

I took the stummel to the sink for a scrubbing. If the internal charing was very bad it would undoubtedly darken the briar on the outside of the stummel. I wanted to see what was under the external grime. I started by using undiluted Murphy Oil Soap with a medium bristle toothbrush. As the photo below shows, the grime was extensive. This first scrubbing was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel. Afterwards the stummel still appeared dirty.

I scrubbed the stummel a second time with Murphy’s and a stiff nylon brush. This improved the results but after rinsing and drying there remained a tacky feeling residue. I scrubbed a third time again with Murphy’s Oil Soap but with a brass brush. Finally the grime rinsed away and left a clean surface when dried.

Below are photos taken of the scrubbed stummel back at the workbench. There was darkening of the briar around the rim, front and back. The wood in these areas seemed thick and solid enough for me to proceed and not throw the entire stummel into the dust bin.

To be sure of the integrity of the briar I needed to top the bowl quite a bit. The front edge was several millimeters lower than the sides. This was done using 220 sand paper laid flat on a countertop. A circular motion was used with the stummel being rotated in hand every few circles to keep the pressure and sanding even.

It appeared as though someone had tried to sand the charred wood from the front of the rim at some prior time. This had removed the factory texturing leaving a smoothed and darkened surface.

The topping of the rim did achieve a flat rim though a shorter stummel with a pronounced forward cant.

Not wanting to remove any more briar than absolutely necessary, I stopped sanding. The inside edge of the rin would be beveled as the pipe was originally made. Before this beveling, I wanted to address the filling of the charred material of the tobacco chamber. I had previously chatted with a fellow restorer about a “mortar” that he had used. The ingredients were plaster of paris (POP), charcoal powder and salt. In thinking about these materials I did not think that the charcoal dust was anything other than a coloring agent and it wouldn’t be strengthening the chemical bonds of the POP. If anything it would weaken the crystalline lattice of the calcium sulfate hemihydrate (chemical name of POP when hardened). I opted to try POP in this instance due to the its properties:

“There are two main properties of Plaster of Paris:
- Non-flammable:
- Non-combustible
Plaster of Paris is non-flammable as well as non-combustible as it has a low chemical reactivity. In extreme conditions, it also acts as an oxidizing agent. Plaster of Paris has fire resistance quality and its material is ideal for heat insulation. The material does not shrink when it sets. Hence, there are no cracks on the surface of the dry Plaster of Paris. At high temperatures, the plaster of Paris also decomposes and becomes toxic oxides.” (https://www.vedantu.com/jee-main/chemistry-plaster-of-paris)

The “toxic oxides” would be sulfur oxides. POP can withstand temperatures of 1200F (650C) without decomposing. A typical pipe will be combusting tobacco at 500-900F (260-482C) well below this threshold. (https://cameochemicals.noaa.gov/chemical/25054)

The POP powder was mixed with tap water as per product instructions. It was then applied to the interior of the tobacco chamber in an even coating using a wood splint. A pipe cleaner was used in the airway to prevent the POP from blocking it.

While the POP was setting-up I began working on re-texturing the stummel. I used a Dremel rotary tool with the bit shown in the below photo. I tried to carve irregular sized and shaped indentations to the surface of the stummel where they had been worn away.

The POP had begun to harden. While it was still soft enough to mold, I used the PipNet and the #3 blades to carve an even hole for the tobacco chamber. This newly surfaced chamber was smoothed with my finger wetted with water.

While still damp, I emptied a capsule of activated carbon powder (charcoal) into the tobacco chamber, plugged it with my palm and shook the stummel vigorously. The excess was dumped out aht I blew through the pipe to remove the remaining dust. The POP was allowed to dry for another 15 minutes.

With the stummel now re-textured it needed to be dyed. According to the Savinelly website the original dye or stain was a “natural burgundy color”. I did not have a natural burgundy dye so I used black. The black Fiebing’s Leather dye was applied with a folded pipe cleaner and flamed with a disposable lighter.

I then wiped the stummel dry with a paper towel. I was not concerned with waiting for a certain amount of time for the dye to dry or set. I was just wanting the dye to stain the textured indentations darker than the raised surfaces.

I returned the stummel to the workbench where I wiped the stummel with several make-up pads wetted with 95% ethyl alcohol to remove excess dye.

The stummel was then sanded with a 400 grit sanding sponge. This removed the black dyed briar surface revealing.

The sanding could not completely lighten the previously charred briar at the front, back and around the rim.

The stummel was lightly sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 1500-3500. The stummel was wiped with an alcohol wetted make-up pad between sponges. I then micro-meshed the stummel with the 40000-12000 micro-mesh pads. I again wiped the stummel with an alcohol wetted make-up pad between pads.

I then applied a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm to the stummel and let it sit for 30 minutes.

30 minutes later the excess balm was wiped away using the inside of a cotton athletic sock. The terry cloth did a fine job of getting into the textured surface and made the stummel look better than it had in many years.

With the stummel looking very nice it needed a stem to go with it. I taped the shank with painters tape to protect it from my sanding.

I then sanded the stem with a sequence of sanding sponges from 1000-3500. Between sponges I rubbed mineral oil onto the stem and wiped away the excess oil with a paper towel.

Once finished with the sanding sponges I used micro-mesh pads 4000-12000 in sequence. Between each of these pads I applied a drop of Obsidian Oil, rubbed it onto the stem with my finger and wiped the stem with a paper towel.

I polished the stem with Before and After Fine polish using a soft cotton cloth.

The last polishing was done with Before and After Extra Fine polish using the same soft cotton cloth. Although a clean spot was used.

To protect the briar frown the elements I chose to use Renaissance Micro-crystalline Wax. And, no not because I love the smell of it, which I do. I applied it with a finger and a baby toothbrush. The product instructions say that it hardens instantly with a rub from a soft sloth. I allowed it to dry for a few minutes before buffing with a soft cloth. I did this 3 times then took it to the buffer where I buffed it with a clean flannel wheel. The stem received several coats of carnauba wax with the carnauba wax wheel from the buffer.

Overall I feel victorious with this restoration. No, the Roma will certainly not win any beauty contests but it has been returned to serviceable and it looks pretty darn good. I am not pleased with the finish of the stem. The more I think about it, the more I think it was my error in applying the CA prior to scrubbing the stem with Soft Scrub. I think the bleaching action of the Soft Scrub is what led to the discoloring of the black CA. Given, it can only be readily seen with bright light, it still annoys me. The polish of the stem turned out well. I am also rather pleased with my first attempt at re-texturing a Savinelli pipe. Though far from perfect it was definitely a learning process and one that I think deserves far more practice. The pipe feels very nice in hand and has proven to be a shape that is comfortable to clench. I am sure it will be a fine companion for outdoor activities where a more refined specimen might not venture; activities like gardening, fishing, yard work, etc… I do hope that you have found something here helpful in the care, maintenance or restoration of your own smokey companions. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. I thank you for reading the rambling of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Savinelli Roma 677 KS.