Tag: vulcanite

A Carved Monarch -20 Restoration

May 20th, 2025

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

I have issues with impulse control. Like this one time at eBay camp… I do hope you had a vivid mental image of Allison Hannigan, and not me, flash into your mind. Anyway, I saw this very uniquely carved pipe which I think I can call a cutty shape. The pipe was made by Monarch and she demanded that I buy it, she being the pipe, not Allison Hannigan. After the obligatory waiting for its arrival, I was able to hold the charismatic carved creature. It was better than it looked in the photos. The pipe was stamped Monarch over PAT. 19 ilegible on the left shank and -20 on the right. The below photos are of the Monarch prior to working on the pipe.

The pipe had either been well cared for or cleaned up a little for the sale. The button area had a few tooth marks and the stem was oxidized. The strange mortise and tenon showed signs of use but was free to screw and unscrew while providing excellent alignment when screwed tight. Overall this looked like an “easy mode” restoration.

Background

I first went to piedia.org for anything on Monarch. I was surprised to find the following:

“Monarch Pipe Co. was established in Hartford Con, most likely in the late 1930 by Fred Warnke, who obtained a patent on the system pipe on January 22 1935. The company moved to Tulsa Oklahoma at some point in the 1950s, after which Monarch Pipe Co was moved to Bristow, Oklahoma. The Monarch Pipe Co. also makes E.A.Carey Magic Inch and Duncan Hill Aerosphere Pipes.” (Monarch – Pipedia). I said, “surprised” because there have been many lots of estate pipes where I see one pipe that jumps out at me which just looks cooler than the others. Frequently this cool pipe is an E.A. Carey. I cannot explain why but it’s true. This pipe certainly lives up to that experience, it is cool looking. The other surprise was patent information.

(Monarch – Pipedia)

I continued to Google Patent Search with the patent number from the pipedia.org site to find the original patent information rather than only the diagram. Here I was able to obtain the full patent document (for those who are interested). I will include only the diagram below.

(US1989069A – Smoking pipe or holder – Google PatentsUS1989069A – Smoking pipe or holder – Google Patents)

That certainly was exactly what this pipe had internally. I did not realize that the tenon section could be unscrewed. I later tried to disassemble the aluminum internals. The contraption reminded me of a Millard pipe restoration I had done previously. In essence the smoke leaves the tobacco chamber and enters a small chamber in the stem. This cooling chamber, within the stem, is aluminum lined and has a small aluminum lined passage to the top of the stem. This passage allows a small amount of fresh air into the chamber. The idea being that the cool fresh air cools the smoke and allows moisture to condense. This condensing moisture traps tars and nicotine from the smoke and all that precipitates out of the smoke and is deposited in the stem. The smoke then passes through another aluminum tube in the stem’s airway that leads to the smoker’s mouth. The trapped moisture cannot get to the mouth because the second tube is centered in the airway above where the precipitates would accumulate. I have to admit that the concept is good and scientifically reasoned. However, the small size of the cooling chamber within the stem seems to me far too small to make a very significant impact. Were it larger, as with a reverse calabash pipe where the cooling chamber is approximately the same size as the tobacco chamber then, I could imagine it working. All that said, I have yet to try the pipe and should probably shut-up until I have experienced the wonders of the Monarch system.

The next stop was to pipephil.eu for additional information. Here I found the following:

(Rings — Pipes : Logos & Markings). Another little surprise, an English and a French connection. The stem in the photo was identical to the Monarch pipe in hand as was the stamp style. The only difference was that the pipephil.eu version must have been an older pipe from before the patent was granted as it read “PAT. PEND.”. I quickly discounted the English and French information as irrelevant to this brand.

So, where does this all lead? I think this pipe was made between 1935-early 1940s. I say that because during World War 2 the government was controlling aluminum usage very strictly. This pipe with its highly engineered aluminum and the technically skilled craftsmen needed would most likely not have been available to craft it during the war years. A second piece of information is the inclusion of small metal specks in the

vulcanite. These indicate the use of used tires as source material for vulcanite production – also frequently seen in war era pipes.

The Restoration

Things started as usual with a cleaned piece of denim on the work surface.

I decided to work on the stem right away. The first step was to file the most severe tooth dents and reestablish a sharper edge to the button.

Filing of the top tooth dents proceeded. The button would require rebuilding with cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue).

Then the bottom of the stem was filed.

I wrapped the shank with masking tape to protect it from sanding. I sanded the stem with a 320 sanding sponge to remove the outer hard layer of oxidation and any wax build-up present.

The internals of the stem was that cooling chamber. Previous experience with systems like this led me to surmise this would be tough to clean. I started with cotton swabs dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.these worked well for the threads and up to the inner aluminum tube. They were too thick to get between the tube and the side walls. I was able to get a folded bristle pipe cleaner in the space.

The fresh air passage was completely closed off. I found a small metal piece, the handle of a fly tying bobbin threader fit perfectly.

Below you can see the bobbin threader in front of the aluminum draft tube.

The spaces between the draft tube and the side walls were full of more gunk than I thought possible. There were flecks of tobacco and dried tars and smoking residue. This all eventually was cleared away.

This is the main downside of a system like this. The volume of the cooling chamber is too small to allow for effective cleaning between smokes. Perhaps if each pipe came with a chemical wash bottle like the photo below and instructions to thoroughly rinse the chamber between smokes this would be remedied.

(Corning wide mouth wash bottle, reusable capacity 250 mL, low-density polyethylene (LDPE), with GL-45 PP screw cap laboratory wash bottles)

The stem was clean inside and out. Now it was time for the Briarville Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. A pipe cleaner was inserted into the stem to act as a handle for easy removal from the bath.

I figured that I’d leave the stem in the solution overnight and continue in the morning.

Next I gathered the reaming tools.

The PipNNet with #2 and #3 blades did most of the work. The General triangular scraper did a bit of clean-up where the tapered bore was missed by the PipNet blades.

Below is a photo of the reamed tobacco chamber.

The chamber was then sanded with 320 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel. This took the chamber to bare briar and exposed no heat damage or charring.

I cleaned the aluminum of the tenon with cotton swabs and a brass brush both dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. The fly tying bodkin was used to get into the corners and scrape yuck.

The draft hole was remarkably clean, only requiring a couple of passes with alcohol dipped bristle pipe cleaners. Those aluminum tubes are great for that.

The stemmel was then scrubbed with Murphy Oil Soap, undiluted, and both nylon and brass brushed. The brass was mainly used on the rim. The Murphy Oil Soap was rinsed with warm water. It was at this point that I noticed something odd, the depressions of the carvings were white. I figured that it was an accumulation of wax that had settled in the depressions. I ran the water at full “hot” and scrubbed the stummel with the nylon brush. My hands protested. After that there remained a bit of white in the depressions.

I wasn’t able to capture the “white” with a photo. It disappeared as the stummel cooled and dried. I returned to the workbench and scrubbed the stummel with 95% ethyl alcohol and the nylon brush. I did this several times until I felt confident that the wax deposits were gone.

The rim looked much better.

I applied a liberal coating of Before and After Restoration Balm to the stummel with a baby tooth brush and let it sit overnight.

The next morning I retrieved the stem from the Briarville solution.

After a vigorous rubbing with a coarse shop rag a little bit of the oxidation stayed on the rag and not the stem.

The solution dried and I could see light brown residue which would have to be sanded off.I went back to cleaning the inner cooling chamber with folded pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in alcohol. They picked up either a little more old smoking residue of some of the Briarville solution with old oxidized vulcanite.

I wiped the remaining Before and After Restoration Balm from the stummel using an inside out athletic sock and a good deal of elbow grease.

The stummel looked great. I wrapped the shank again with masking tape.

The button repair would be made before the sanding. The top is shown below.

And the bottom. Both sides needed additional material layered on the button proper as well as fills in the tooth dents.

I used a black rubberized CA for both the building up and the dent filling. Below is the building up of the top button.

After getting a nice even layer, I spritzed the wet CA with a CA drying accelerator.

This was repeated with the button on the bottom side.

The dents received a small drop of CA also, the next two photos are of the top and bottom.

These drops were also spritzed with a drying accelerator.

The button sides were reshaped using the file. The CA was filed smooth and sanded with a 320 sanding sponge.

The entire stem was then sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 320 grit through 3500 grit. Between each sponge I rubbed the stem with mineral oil and wiped it with a paper towel to remove sanding debris.

The stem was then micro-meshed with pads 4000-12000. Between pads I rubbed the stem with Obsidian Oil and wiped it with a paper towel.

I buffed the stem with blue compound on the dedicated blue compound wheel.

The stem received several coats of carnauba wax applied with the buffer.

The carvings of the stummel were too deep and coarse to use carnauba wax so Renaissance Micro-crystalline Wax was used.

This was worked into the stummel with a baby toothbrush.

The stummel was then hand buffed with a soft cotton cloth.

The final step was a hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth further deepening the shine.

I can’t say that this Monarch is named for being an absolute ruler or a butterfly. I can say that it absolutely rules the playground as a great looking pipe. The carvings add to the graceful shape and do give it an almost butterfly wing look. The stem turned out wonderfully even with the old recycled metal inclusions. I still have not smoked the pipe to see if the chamber and fresh air intake actually work. I have my doubts and have tested many of the war time inventions and have been quite unimpressed. Though the gimmicks probably sold a lot of pipes, it seems to me that the only “new ideas” that have stood the test of time have been the Peterson System, Medico’s filters, the E.A, Carey Magic Inch and Brigham Rock Maple inserts. At least those are the only ones that come to mind. The dimensions of the Monarch -20 are:

Length: 6.12 in./ 155.45 mm.

Weight: 1.19 oz./ 33.74 g.

Bowl Height: 1.94 in./ 49.28 mm.

Chamber Depth: 1.73 in./ 43.94 mm.

Chamber Diameter: 0.78 in./ 19.81 mm.

Outside Diameter: 1.36 in./ 34.54 mm.

I do hope that you have found something here useful to your own pipe care, maintenance or restorations. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

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Below are some photos of the finished Monarch -20.
A Custom-Bilt Taper Stem Restoration

May 15th, 2025

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

Well here I go again on another Custom-Bilt crusade. I’m not sure why the Custom-Bilt pipes have such a following. They are good smoking pipes and are uniquely carved but there has to be more to it than just that. There were numerous pipes made during and after World War Two which are arguably better made with better quality materials. Perhaps it is in part due to the writing of William E. Unger, Jr., Ph.D. His well written book, “Individual as a Thumbprint” The Custom Built Pipe Story is very well researched and provides a great deal of information about the maker, Tracy Mincer and the company Custom-Bilt. Perhaps it is this personal history which draws collectors to the pipes setting them apart from other impersonal brands of factory made pipes. For whatever reason, I was drawn to this Listing. The fact that I won the auction for less than $12 had nothing to

do with it… Okay, that is a load of bologna sausage (BS), I’m admittedly a tightwad. I had purchased from this seller previously and was quite happy with this purchase. The pipe made its way from Kentville, Nova Scotia to the wilds of southeast Nebraska and into my hot little hands. Below are some photos of the pipe before any work was done.

The stummel looked to be in good condition. The stem was the issue and was probably what caused the bidding to be favorable to my bidding. It was severely oxidized and had a large hole in the button. I remained hopeful that I could repair the stem or fit a suitable replacement. Either way this old pipe was not destined for the dustbin, it would live for another generation of pipe tobacco lovers.

Background

Being a proud member of Generation X and prone to the slackard description that accompanies my generation, I will include the background from a previous Custom-Bilt restoration. You can find that one here.

“The standard starting point for researching a pipe typically includes pipedia.org. The query of Tracy Mincer, originator of Custom-Bilt, will take you to this brief entry:

“Tracy Mincer started the original Custom-Bilt pipe company in 1934. In 1946, the name was changed to Custombilt after Mincer began an association with Eugene J. Rich, Inc. There were some big changes in advertising and distribution. The slogan “AS INDIVIDUAL AS A THUMBPRINT” began at this time as well.

In the early 1950’s, Tracy Mincer developed severe financial problems that caused him to stop making the Custombilt, and he lost the name. n 1952, Mincer began a new pipe, The Doodler, that due to the holes in the bowl had to made primarily in a billiard type shape in three sizes. In the early 1950s, National Briar was turning the bowls for Mincer. Based upon the documentation, it appears that Mincer made the pipe until the mid 1960s, when National Briar Pipe Co., Inc. began making and selling the Doodler.

Mincer died in 1964. Based upon the information provided, Mincer seemed to always have money, production, distribution and other problems. Mincer was probably a terrific craftsman but a very poor businessman and administrator. To me, Mincer sounds like your typical small business entrepreneur who always knew what was right and if you disagreed¼problems. Mincer always seemed to be on the brink of going out of business, not meeting payroll and so on.

Claude Stuart purchased the Tracy Mincer Pipe Company and began making pipes using the Tracy Mincer stamp. Stuart finished nearly all the pipes produced, mostly carved and textured bowls and the occasional straight grain. Claude made the Tracy Mincer Pipe Company a moderate success. Stuart became ill and in 1990 The Tracey Mincer Pipe Company went out of business. Currently, Jim Tedesco owns the Tracy Mincer name.

These interesting examples bellow are pipes made with the Tracy Mincer stamp. If you any additional information about these pipes, or can otherwise add to the history of this interesting pipe man, please add it here, or send it to sethile.pipes@gmail.com, and we can add it for you.” (Mincer – Pipedia).

There is a book written by William E. Unger, Jr.,Ph.D titled “As Individual As A Thumbprint”: The Custom-Bilt Pipe Story. This book appears to be self published by Dr. Unger at The Graphic Touch, of Columbus, Ohio. Printed in 2001 and bound with a black plastic spiral, the book states that the entire contents are “All rights reserved…without permission in writing from the author”. Dr. Unger passed away January 1, 2013 (obituary: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/dispatch/name/william-unger-obituary?id=12197453) and the book is no longer in print. This unfortunately means that I will not be including any quotes from the book. We’ll see how I get around that, I guess. I got lucky and purchased a copy from eBay for under $30 (with shipping) earlier this year, after watching several copies sell for what I considered astronomical prices. The book is a remarkable piece of work and is the definitive history of the Custom-Bilt pipe. The research that Dr. Unger put into getting the story correct is amazing. Fortunately there were several past employees, friends and relatives associated with Tracy Miller and the company that were able to give interviews and explanations to the inner workings of the company.

In regards to the stamps on the pipe in hand, I will speak to what I have found in Unger’s book, without quoting any of it. The first thing that needs clarification is the Custom-Bilt vs. Custombilt name. I’ll paraphrase William Unger here, the first stamps used by Tracy Mincer were “Custom-Bilt”. These were used from 1938-1946 definitively and less definitively prior to 1938. You could, perhaps, find reference to this in the book on page 91. There, I think that should give me legitimacy and keep any lawyers at bay. Next we examine the IMPORTED BRIAR stamp on the bottom of the pipe. Unger states that he has inspected a large number of Custom-bilt pipes and that about ½ of them do not have this stamp. He declares that he is at a loss to explain either their absence or presence This lack of explanation might be seen towards the bottom of page 114. The final stamp on this Custom-Bilt is the geometric circle stamped on the shank. Certainly these stamps have some utilitarian meaning. Nope. Unger declares that he is not able to explain any system where shapes such as circles, triangles, stars, rectangles, half moons or even trapezoids have any systematic meaning. This may or may not be seen on the top of page 114.

Pipephil.eu does allow quotations with proper referencing and shows nice examples of the above-mentioned geometric stamps.

(Cos-Cz — Pipes : Logos & Markings)” (Young, John M.. https://scimansays1787.com/2025/01/02/a-custom-bilt-circle-stamped-restoration/)

Regarding the specific pipe of this restoration, I believe it to be one of the Custom-Bilts made between 1938-46 due to the “Custom-Bilt” stamping. I cannot discern any IMPORTED BRIAR stamp nor any geometric shape.

The Restoration

As usual the pipe went from the photo table to the workbench and received a clean denim piece.

The stem was the place where I decided to start. Mainly because it was the part that would need the most work. The stem was cleaned with bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.

The stem was lightly sanded with a 320 grit sanding sponge.

Next, the stem was submerged inBriarville’s Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. This would be a real test for the relatively new-to-me solution.

I placed a pipe cleaner in the tenon for easy removal.

I left the stem in the Briarville oxidation remover overnight. The next day the stem was removed.

A vigorous rubbing with a coarse shop rag removed some of the oxidized vulcanite and can be seen on the rag below.

Back at the workbench the stem looked far better.

I wanted the stem and stummel intact during sanding to keep the joint where the two pieces met nice and unrounded. To do this I wrapped the shank with painters tape.

In the photo below you can see where I wiped the sanding debris from the sponge onto the denim. Notice the color difference. The lighter colored debris was from the stem before the Briarville solution whereas the darker debris on the sponge is from after the solution.

I sanded the button zone with the 320 grit sponge. This was to roughen the stem for better adhesion of the epoxy and cyanoacrylate (CA) that I planned to use to rebuild the button.

Below is a photo of my idea: I wanted to use the slot cutting bit with a Dremel rotary tool to cut a slot into the button. I would then cut a piece of 2 mm brass rod/pin to span the broken piece of the stem. This pin would be held in place by black epoxy resin. The epoxy would also be used to fill in the void.

Below is a slightly different view of the dremel bit.

Below is how I imagined the placement of the pin in regards to the button.

I used the Dremel to cut a groove in the button.

The same cut from the side.

The pin was cut with pliers and the ends of the pin were filed to a taper. This pin was set into the groove.

Below a view of the button from the front with the pin in place. Sorry about the poor focus.

JB Weld was the black epoxy that I used because that was the product I had on hand.

To keep the epoxy only in the areas where I wanted it, I used a “dam”.. This dam was a piece of plastic lid cut to fit the stem. The dam was coated with petroleum jelly to keep the epoxy from adhering to it. I laid a bead of epoxy in the groove and placed the pin into the epoxy. Additional epoxy was added to the top of the pin and to the hole. The dam provided a floor for the epoxy to rest on. The JB Weld sets up within 15 minutes so I was able to allow it to firm up and then add additional epoxy before the whole mix became unworkable.

Below you can see the rebuild button on new epoxy, the filled hole and the incorporated pin.

After about 30 minutes I removed the dam.

The pin was completely encased in epoxy. My idea was that this would provide the rigidity needed to withstand a significant bite while retaining the correct shape.

The epoxy had solidified enough to hold its shape yet was soft enough to allow me to cut the excess off with a sharp knife.

I allowed the epoxy to sit and harden for 24 hours. I know the packaging says an hour but I wanted it hard enough to sand and work with a file.

The top and bottom were filed. I applied black CA to the top of the epoxy patch in an attempt to blend the repair better to the original stem and to build-up the button. Once cured this was again filed and sanded smooth.

Below you can see the scar from the repair during the sanding.

Here is a view of the slot. I used a Vermont Freehand slot tool (https://vermontfreehand.com/product/slot-funneling-tools/) to smooth the stem’s airway and sanded the airway.

The stem was sanded with a series of sanding sponges from grits 320-3500. Between each sponge I rubbed Obsidian Oil onto the stem and wiped it with a paper towel.

Once sanded I took the stem to the buffer and worked it with rouge compound on the rouge wheel.

I repeated the buffing using white buffing compound on the dedicated white wheel.

The stem looked good in the sunlight.

This was now two days into the restoration. Far more than usual and I still had not started work on the stummel. I gathered the reaming kit.

The tobacco chamber was surprisingly well kept. The PipNet’s #2 and #3 blades removed the majority of the cake only requiring a little bit of clean-up scraping with the General triangular scraper.

The airway on the shank was far less well kept. I swear the camera didn’t even want to witness the tar deposits. Okay, I did a crappy job photographing it but you can see the amount of scraping and the yuck that was removed.

The shank was nowhere near finished and I decided to switch gears and maybe soften things up with warm water. The Exterior of the stummel was about as dirty as the airway. I scrubbed the stummel with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a brash brush.

The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton hand towel. The stummel still looked dirty, especially in the grooves. I repeated the Murphy Oil Soap scrub 2 more times with a nylon brush.

Back at the workbench I scrubbed the stummel again using the nylon brush and 95% ethyl alcohol then wiped the stummel with a make-up pad and more alcohol.

Okay, back to the airway. I wanted to see if a cotton-alcohol treatment would help dissolve some of the tar in the airway. The bowl and shank were packed with cotton.

About 10 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol was added to the cotton with a disposable pipette. The cotton was saturated with alcohol. The plan was to let this sit overnight.

Time to go fishing.

After fishing the cotton and alcohol had done a little bit of tar removal but things were still damp.

I decided to apply a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm and let that sit overnight as well.

The next morning the cotton alcohol treatment looked like the below two photos.

The Before and After Restoration Balm was hand buffed with an inside out athletic sock.

With the excess balm removed I next removed the cotton from the stummel.

The cotton and alcohol had done a good job at softening and removing the tars. I repeated some of the scraping, to little avail, and continued scrubbing with cotton swabs and a shank brush both dipped in alcohol.

The pipe was reassembled and taken to the buffer for several coats of carnauba wax. Because the carvings were not deep nor too jagged I thought that carnauba would not build up too badly in the grooves.

The final step was a hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth further deepening the shine.

Another Lovely thick walled Custom-Bilt is ready for many more years of use. The rusticated briar cleaned up well and really looked good after the Before and After Restoration Balm worked its magic. The stem repair worked quite nicely and left a hardly noticeable scar. The oxidation removal was not perfect leaving some areas of brown smudgeness. This can only be seen under very bright light. I was glad that the stem was salvaged and made strong again with the brass pin incorporation. The stamping did remain legible though here a bright light is an asset, at least for my old eyes. The old cigarette burn on the shank was left alone as I did not want to sand and alter the carvings on the shank. This will be a battle scar or a symbol of character. The dimensions of the Custom-Bilt Taper Stem are:

Length: 5.99 in./ 152.15 mm.

Weight: 1.73 oz./ 49.05 g.

Bowl Height: 1.97 in./ 50.04 mm.

Chamber Depth: 1.59 in./ 40.39 mm.

Chamber Diameter: 0.79 in./ 20.07 mm.

Outside Diameter: 1.64 in./ 41.66 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 Custom-Bilt Taper Stem.
A Royal Guard 522 (Stanwell) Restoration

April 15th, 2025

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

“That is a cool shape” is what I said to myself when I came across this darling Danish damsel languishing on eBay. The two photos in the listing were not great, which may have been why there had been little interest in the pipe. I’ll include one below.

I made an offer to the seller and it was accepted. Several days later the Royal Guard made the trip from Shenandoah, Virginia to the wilds of southeast Nebraska. The stamping on the pipe read “Royal Guard” (in a fancy script) over MADE IN DENMARK on the left shank and 522 on the right shank. The stem stamping was clear and had an RG overlapping. Below are some photos of the pipe prior to any work done.

The Royal Guard looked like it was in very good shape. The only issues were the lava flows on the rim and the oxidation of the stem. This looked to be a very relaxing restoration. I was excited to continue the testing of the new products too: Before and After Hard Rubber Balm and Briarville’s Stem oxidation Remover.

Background

Stanwell was hardly an unknown brand to me but I had not spent a lot of time working on Stanwell pipes. The last one I had worked on and blogged about was back in June of 2024. Here is that link if you’d care to read it. The funny part was that the restored Stanwell from that post was very similar in shape to this pipe. Below are before photos of both pipes. Apparently my taste in pipe shapes has not changed much in a year.

The first place I researched Royal Guard was pipephil.eu. Here I found a match for the stamping s and the RG stem logo. The Royal Guard was said to be a “Stanwell seconds”.

(Roy-Rz — Pipes: Logos & Markings)

The next leg in the search was to pipedia.org under “Stanwell”. “During WWII, Danish pipe smokers could no longer buy the English made briar pipes they preferred to smoke. In 1942, because of the unavailability of English pipes and raw briar, Poul Nielsen began making pipes from beech wood for Danish customers. At the time, Poul was managing a company called Kyringe, which made various wood products. At the end of the war, briar became available again, so Nielsen began importing his own briar and started making briar pipes to compete with the English manufacturers. It must be remembered that in 1948, England was the single great center for pipe making. Therefore, Nielsen changed the name of his pipes to “Stanwell”, which sounded much more like a proper English name than “Nielsen”. He also created the horse drawn carriage logo for its English connotations. He later changed his own last name from Nielsen to Stanwell, a testament to his devotion to the pipes he made. Stanwell’s relationships with Danish pipe makers goes back to Sixten Ivarsson, who is considered the originator of modern Danish pipe making. Ivarsson was commissioned to design Stanwell shapes. In 1969, the factory was moved a town called Borup, just outside of Copenhagen to be closer to Ivarsson.” (Stanwell – Pipedia)

According to the entry the main part of the information was from a smokingpipes.com article on Stanwell. So, I went to the original document: (Stanwell Shapes and Origins | Smokingpipes.com). I will include this information in its entirety below:

“Alongside classic English and French pipemakers, Stanwell holds a significant place in pipe history. Due to the briar shortages of WWII, and the chaos that overwhelmed both France and Britain — as well as Italy from where a large quantity of briar was sourced — Danish pipe smokers couldn’t obtain pipes from England, despite preferring such pieces. To fill this void of quality smoking instruments in Denmark, Poul Nielsen began making pipes out of beechwood under the name Kyringe in 1942.

When the war ended and briar resumed availability, Nielsen transitioned into making briar pipes, joining the market now resurrected with popular English brands. These marques dominated the preferences of pipe smokers, England considered the Mecca of pipemaking, so in 1948, Poul changed his brand name to Stanwell — a more English-sounding name to cater to popular pipe smoking inclinations. He even changed his own surname to Stanwell, cementing his commitment to his pipe making venture and his devotion to crafting quality pipes.

Stanwell became the first main exporter of Danish pipes, introducing the world to new pipe designs and adding diversity. Unlike most other brands, though, Stanwell fostered relationships with individual Danish artisans — most notably Sixten Ivarsson. Ivarsson revolutionized the pipe making process in the 1960s with his paradigm-shifting “shape first, drill second” approach, allowing carvers greater freedom and creativity when crafting new designs.

Recognizing this potential for collaboration, Stanwell commissioned Sixten to design a number of shapes for the Danish marque. This relationship, then, extended to other artisans in Denmark: Jess Chonowitsch, Anne Julie, Tom Eltang, and the S. Bang workshop, which at the time consisted of Svend Bang, Per Hansen, and Ulf Noltensmeier.

Stanwell’s extensive portfolio, then, features a number of artisan-designed shapes, offering the individuality and aesthetic appeal of artisan pipes but with the greater production ability of a state-of-the-art factory. Such a combination is rarely seen from large-scale pipe makers, setting Stanwell apart and lending it a distinguished place among the globe-spanning breadth of pipe making.

Many of these artisan-designed shapes can be found in our Danish Estates category, and below are listed some of the most popular and iconic pieces, divided by their progenitors:

Sixten Ivarsson

11 – Bent Pot

17 – Billiard

21 – Potato Sack

30 – Acorn

35 – Peewit

62/63/64 – Bent Dublins

70 – Volcano

86 – Bent Pot

Anne Julie

11 – Bent Bulldog

35 – Bent Egg Freehand

Tom Eltang

126 – Horn (plateau rim, 125 smooth rim)

131 – Apple

190 – Billiard

191 – Bent Rhodesian

199 – Billiard

Sixtus 208 – Billiard

Sixtus 209 – Apple

Sixtus 210 – Pot

Sixtus 211 – Bent Dublin

Sixtus 212 – Bent Billiard

Sixtus 213 – Horn/Zulu

227 – Bent Dublin

228 – Dublin

232 – Bent Billiard (sits)

Featherweight 243 – Bent Dublin/Acorn

Featherweight 245 – Poker

Jess Chonowitsch

140 – Bent Dublin

141 – Billiard/Brandy

142 – Bent Dublin

145 – Horn

146 – Horn/Dublin

148 – Canadian

162 – Calabash

217 – Horn

S. Bang

178 – Billiard

179 – Bent Apple” (Stanwell Shapes and Origins | Smokingpipes.com) I did take some creative license to format the original images to better fit the page but the information was not changed in any way.

In looking at the images from various Stanwell carvers I could not find a match for the Royal Guard pipe. The number 522 also could not be found on any Stanwell literature. The closest thing I could find was the following:

(Stanwell Shape Numbers and Designers – Pipedia)

If you assume that the 5 of the 522 is there to indicate the Royal Guard then the 22 would be the shape number. There is no reference to a shape 52 in any Stanwell catalogs so, this seems like a reasonable assertion. The shape number 22, is mentioned in the above quote/screenshot in two versions. The “Straight billiard with an oval shank and tapered stem” obviously does not pertain to this pipe but the “Bent apple-horn hybrid with a half-saddle stem” could be used to describe this pipe.

(Stanwell Shape Numbers and Designers – Pipedia) A further look at who originally designed the Stanwell shapes lists Sixten Ivsrsen as the creator of shape 22. As for the date of production, who knows. If I had to guess I would say, 1970s but that would be just a guess.

The Restoration

Even just sitting on a denim piece at the workbench I think this is a great shape.

As I said before, I was excited to try out the new Briarville Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. So much so, that I completely forgot to clean the stem airway before inserting a pipe cleaner to act as a handle and placing it in the solution.

I left the stem in the solution for 12 hours.

Reaming the tobacco chamber was the next task. The ream team was gathered, below.

The PipNet with the #3 blade did the heavy lifting here with the General triangular scraper finishing up the job.

The chamber was sanded with 220 sandpaper to bare briar. No heat damage was observed in the chamber. The rim certainly needed a good cleaning to remove the lava, though.

The lava was moistened with saliva and allowed to sit for a couple of minutes before being scraped with a sharp pocket knife.

The scraping revealed no serious charring of the rim’s briar.

Next, 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. This removed some color from the stummel.

There was some shine remaining on the stummel so I repeated the wiping with acetone on make-up pads.

This pipe had been used for smoking cherry blends and there was a definite cherry ghost haunting the briar. I opted to do a cotton alcohol treatment to exorcize the ghost while I waited to see the results of the Briarville solution.

I added alcohol to the cotton which was stuffed into the tobacco chamber and airway with a disposable pipette.

Alcohol was added until both ends were saturated.

The next day revealed the scene below. The bowl was quite unstained while the shank was heavily discolored.

The cotton was removed.

Well, it isn’t bright and pretty yellow anymore. The Briarville solution was dramatically darker than the previous day.

The stem was moved to a coarse shop rag.

A vigorous rubbing with the rag removed some of the softened oxidation from the stem and left it on the rag.

The stamping on the stem looked good. There is always a fear of the oxidation remover removing the logo though, this stamp was nice and deep and hard not been buffed or worn into oblivion like some I’ve seen.

Overall I was quite impressed with the Briarville Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. It seemed to have worked well and was less messy than the Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer that I have been using for many years.

I applied a drizzle of Soft Scrub cleanser to several make-up pads and scrubbed the stem with these. There was a lot of oxidized vulcanite removed in the process.

The last step in the oxidation was a coating of Before and After Hard Rubber Balm. This is another product sent to me by Mark Hoover, creator of the Before and After Products. I really like this blam for maintaining vulcanite stems after they have been restored. I think the more viscous balm is a better preservative than the Obsidian Oil.

With the residues within the shank softened by the alcohol-cotton treatment I started cleaning out the shank with alcohol dipped cotton swabs and a dental scraper.

The mortise had been drilled with a Forstner or other flat bottomed bit making a very regular mortise. This also created a great place for tars and residues to accumulate.

With the airway cleaned I was ready to start sanding the stem. To protect the shank and stem log0, masking tape was used to cover them. I wanted the stem and stummel together during the sanding to avoid round their edges creating an unsightly gap.

I tried flame painting the tooth dents out the button of the stem. This can sometimes reduce the dents.

The one thing that always reduces dents is filing the area. It also reestablishes a nice button.

The filing was done on both the bottom and top of the stem.

The stem was then sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 320-3500 grit. Between each sponge I rubbed the stem with mineral oil and wiped it off with a paper towel.

The smooth part of the stummel was sanded with the same series of sanding sponges. Here I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad moistened with alcohol between sponges.

The original logo appeared to have been painted with a white paint. I thought that a silver would look more “Royal”, befitting the name Royal Guard.

I applied silver leaf Rub’nBuff with a fly tying bodkin, working it into the logo stampings.

The Rub’nBuff was buffed by rubbing it on the denim work surface. This left a little bit of silver remaining on the area around the logo. I figured that this would be removed by the micro-mesh pads.

The stem and smother area of the stummel were micro-meshed with pads 400-12000. The stummel was wiped with an alcohol dampened make-up pad between micro-mesh pads while the stem was rubbed with Obsidian Oil between pads.

The stem was then polished with Before and After Fine followed by Extra Fine Polished. Both were applied by my finger and hand buffed with a soft cotton cloth.

The pipe was then taken to the buffer for several coats of carnauba wax. Since the sandblast was not very deep or pronounced I thought that it would be safe to use carnauba wax if applied carefully and worked with the blast direction.

The final step was a hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth further deepening the shine.

I think this Royal Guard 522 turned out very well. This rim and stem were the two areas I was worried about, both turned out exceptionally well. The high gloss black vulcanite really accentuates and contrasts the sandblast of the stummel. The smooth portions of the stummel and shan are also a nice contrast in textures and amplify the sweeping curves of this shape. There was a lingering cherry taste when Drawing air through the pipe. Fortunately for me I planned on keeping this pipe and adding it to my personal collection and I don’t mind the ever so slight cherry. Heck, I might just use it for those blends. The dimensions of the Royal Guard 522 are:

Length: 5.69 in./ 144.53 mm.

Weight: 1.82 oz./ 51.60 g.

Bowl Height: 1.81 in./ 45.97 mm.

Chamber Depth: 1.55 in./ 39.37 mm.

Chamber Diameter: 0.80 in./ 20.32 mm.

Outside Diameter: 1.66 in./ 42.16 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 Royal Guard 522.
A Short Snorter Restoration

March 25th, 2025
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

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.

(https://www.pinterest.com/pin/208713763967237818/)

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.

The stem was dirty and constricted. I used several alcohol dipped bristle pipe cleaners and the Vermont Freehand Slot Funnelling Tool (https://vermontfreehand.com/product/slot-funneling-tools/) to clear things out.

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.
A Denicotea 072 Restoration

March 20th, 2025

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

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]

Depending on the different lines the pipes are made by Cesare Barontini, Gigi or Molina Pipe for Denicotea GmbH.

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.
A Mac Baren Extra 02 Restoration

February 27th, 2025
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

I had heard of and smoked a good amount of Mac Baren tobacco. A Mac Baren pipe though, was new to me. This pipe was part of an estate lot which I won from Eschweiler, Germany. The lot consisted of 13 pipes and what I was hoping for was pipes that were a bit more uncommon here in the United States. A Mac Baren certainly met that criterion. The pipe was stamped MAC BAREN over EXTRA with the “”MA” and the “E” being quite faint. To the right was a slightly smaller stamp MADE IN over DENMARK and a 02. There was also a logo on the stem which I could make out what appeared to be two animals flanking something adorned with a crown. Unfortunately the logo was worn, faint or both. The below photos were taken prior to having done any work on the pipe.

Background

This was an interesting “Background” section because I was initially befuddled (far from unusual). The traditional “go to” site, pipedia.org, had no information on Mac Baren pipes. The source for logos, pipephi.eu did have a similar entry for Mac Baren though.

(M-Man — Pipes: Logos & Markings)

The stem logo was very faint on the Mac Baren pipe in hand but it was certainly a match and the stamp style, also faint, matched as well.

Returning to pipedia.org, I searched again but this time began with the listing of Danish pipe makers. Here I found the below:

(Danish Pipe Brands & Makers M – Q – Pipedia). The link to Mac Baren Tobacco Co. led to the below:

I was able to screenshot a good image of the Mac Baren logo though. Hmm, I think I’ll have to try the gold leaf on that logo when it is time to freshen it.

(Pagina non trovata | Mac Baren Tobacco Company). Apparently the purchase of Mac Baren by Scandia Tobacco Group had also ended the support of their website. All was not lost though, there was a second link leading to Georg Jensen. This link was followed to the following entry at pipedia.org:

“The Georg Jensen pipe factory was founded by Per Georg Jensen and his wife in 1954, in Kopenhagen, Denmark. Since the 80s the company is under the management of his daughter Lis, and his son with the same name, Per Georg Jensen. The company manufactured around 2,000 factory pipes per year. Among the top of the line pipes are hand carved special editions and free hands.

Top of the Line models of Georg Jensen have vulcanite or ebonite stems, factory pipes usually have acrylic stems.

Factory pipes (in increasing quality) were marked:

Danish Sand Achat / Amber Red Flame / Red Skin Sunrise / Orange extra / Starline Contrast / Bicolour / Harmon Excellent / Masterpiece

Pipes were commonly marked (in increasing quality) with: MODEL + MODEL NUMBER + “Made in Denmark”, GJ stamp in red on the stem. MODEL NUMBER + “Georg Jensen” in italic or fancy font.

Extremely rare and collectible freehands were marked with:

“Straight Grain”, and a number that discerns the grading from 1 (lowest) to 13 (highest).

Special edition pipes were marked with: MODEL + MODEL NUMBER + “Handmade in Denmark” + GJ stamp in white on the stem.

The factory closed down in 2001 when Per Georg Jensen (jr) became “Tobacco Professor” for MacBaren Tobacco house.
- You might also enjoy listening to Brian Levine’s interview with Georg on the Pipes Magazine Radio Show
Source: Manfred Arenz

” (Georg Jensen – Pipedia)

No direct link was given herebut inferences or assumptions could be made. The only problem with those is the old saying, “when you assume you make an ass of you and me”. Not having trouble being called an ass but wanting to provide readers with as correct of information as I can, I turned to my European expert, Sascha Mertens. Sascha was hit with a message via Facebook and asked what he knew about Mac Baren pipes. I included a few phone photos as well. Below is the response from Sascha:

“I sent the Pictures of the MB pipe to Danny. Maybe he can tell a bit more about the pipe itself but it seems they were only produced for Switzerland.” (Mertens, Sascha. Personal communication).

Sascha also sent me two photos of letters describing the negotiations of making the Mac Barens pipes. I attempted to enhance the photos of the documents for clarity they are seen below:

Armed with the above information I feel secure in dating the Mac Baren Extra 02 as a pipe made by George Jensen in the mid 1970s for the Swiss market. The dates from the above documents would place the production after June 28, 1973.

Now, I often ask myself, “how did this pipe get to me?” Well remember back in the introduction when I said this Mac Baren was part of a German estate lot? Here is a photo of the eBay listing with the Mac Baren circled:

Apparently that is how old pipes move across international borders. Some old retired pipe restorer wants something a little bit different so he wins an auction from Germany and Boom, foreign pipes magically appear far from their homes.

The Restoration

The Mac Baren made it to the workbench and a freshly laundered denim piece.

I started working on the stem. I removed the old filter and wondered how much filtering a tiny little filter like that could do. Obviously something because it was stained with residue. The stem was cleaned out with bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.

Another pipe cleaner was inserted into the tenon to act as a hanger for suspending the stem in Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer (referred to as deox). I planned on leaving it in the solution for 6 hours.

The reaming tools were gathered. The PipNet and #1 blade seemed to be the best fit for the reaming of the tobacco chamber.

I quickly realized that the conical boring of the chamber was better matched with the shape of the Kleen-Reen reaming tool and the Smokingpipes Low Country Reamer. The small amount of cake was scraped free by these trusty three.

The interior of the chamber was sanded with 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel.

The stummel was taken to the sink for a scrubbing with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a nylon brush. This was repeated a second time with additional Murphy’s 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 looked much better without the years of accumulated grime.

The airway of the shank was cleaned out using alcohol dipped cotton swabs and more bristle pipe cleaners.

The stummel was given a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm and allowed to sit for a couple of hours.

After 6 hours the stem was removed from deox and allowed to drip the excess solution back into the jar.

Below is the still wet with deox stem ready for a vigorous rubbing with a coarse shop rag.

I like the coarse shop rag for removing the remaining solution and for rubbing off some of the oxidized rubber that the solution loosens from the stem.

Back at the workbench, the stem looked far better but some pitting was now obvious from the removed oxidation.

Make-up pads drizzled with Soft Scrub cleanser were used to scrub the stem and remove more of the oxidation.

The stem was then reattached to the stummel and masked to protect the shank during buffing. Attaching the stem to the stummel keeps the joint from being rounded during the buffing or sanding process. After the buffing the stem looked much better but there were still areas of brown oxidation showing. Especially near the button.

I used a small flat file to file the area below the button for about 1-1.5 cm. This was then sanded with a series of sanding sponges 320-1000 grit. After sanding I returned to the buffer.

The filing and sanding was buffed with white compound on the dedicated white buffing wheel. Below you can see the results.

I used Rub’nBuff Gold Leaf Wax Metal Finish in an attempt to restore the stem logo. The logo had been faint originally and the deox and buffing had not helped matter. Though I had been very careful around the logo with both. The wax was applied using a fly tying bodkin and worked into the stamped logo. Like the name of the product says, I rubbed and buffed using a gentle hand and a soft cloth.

The stem was then hand buffed with Before and After Fine Polish on a soft cloth.

After the Fine Polish I did the same with Before and After Extra Fine Polish.

The stummel received a coat of Renaissance Micro-Crystalline Wax via baby toothbrush. This was allowed to air dry for 10 minutes and was hand buffed with a soft cloth. I repeated the application with a second coat and 10 minute dry time. The second coat was lightly buffed at the buffer with a clean flannel wheel.

The stem received several coats of carnauba wax while at the buffer. The final step was a hand buffing done with a microfiber polishing cloth.

The dimensions of the Mac Baren Extra 02 areas follows:

Length: 5.16 in./ 131.06 mm.

Weight: 1.24 oz./ 35.15 g.

Bowl Height: 1.55 in./ 39.37 mm.

Chamber Depth: 1.24 in./ 31.50 mm.

Chamber Diameter: 0.67 in./ 17.02 mm.

Outside Diameter: 1.55 in./ 39.37 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 Mac Baren Extra 02.
A Bari De Luxe Bent Billiard 710 Restoration

February 25th, 2025

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

I cannot say that I have had a lot of experience with Bari pipes. I can say that they have a look all their own and this one adds a Danish flare to what I’d call a bent billiard shape. I am sure there is a pretty pipe under the years of accumulated dust and grime and the stem most likely is not supposed to be that unique two tone pea green on top. This Bari came all the way from Eschweiler, Germany with an estate lot. I was hoping for some pipesthat were a bit less common to the States and was not disappointed. The Bari had a stamped and painted BARI on the stem but I couldn’t be certain of the paint color. On the underside of the shank there was a smooth area stamped with BARI over DE LUXE next to that is MADE IN over DENMARK and offset to the right a 710 (assumed to be a shape number). Below are some photos of the Bari prior to work.

Hmm, I do not think that this two tone stem is part of the original design. The oxidation of the stem appears to be the greatest area in need of restoration with the rest of the pipe just needing a good cleaning and a bit of refinishing.

Background

Not being well versed in the history of Bari pipes, I turned first to pipedia.

“Bari Piber was founded by Viggo Nielsen in Kolding around the turn of 1950/51. Viggo’s sons Kai Nielsen and Jørgen Nielsen both grew into their father’s business from a very young age and worked there till 1975.

Bari had very successfully adapted the new Danish Design that had been started mainly by Stanwell for it’s own models. When Viggo Nielsen sold Bari in 1978 to Joh. Wilh. von Eicken GmbH in Hamburg Bari counted 33 employees.

From 1978 to 1993 Åge Bogelund and Helmer Thomsen headed Bari’s pipeproduction. Thomson bought the company in 1993 re-naming it to Bari Piber Helmer Thomsen. The workshop moved to more convenient buildings in Vejen. Bogelund, who created very respectable freehands of his own during the time at Bari got lost somehow after 1993.

Bari’s basic conception fundamentally stayed the same for decades: series pipes pre-worked by machines and carefully finished by hand. Thus no spectacular highgrades but solid, reliable every day’s companions.

The most famous series are the smooth “Classic Diamond” and the blasted “Wiking”.” (Bari – Pipedia)

The entry in pipedia.org looked like a pretty good Google translate entry with some non-standard English wordsmithing. It did give me an idea as to the age of the pipe though.

Next I searched pipephil.eu for Bari logos. Here I screen captured the below image:

(B-Barn — Pipes : Logos & Markings)

The Restoration

The Bari made it onto a freshly laundered piece of denim on the workbench. Upon removing the stem I saw a brand new 3mm filter emerging from the stem. “Huh, never tried one of those”, I thought.

I began this project with the stem since that was the part which seemed to be in the greatest need of attention. It was cleaned out with bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. The surface was lightly sanded with 400 grit sandpaper and a pipe cleaner was inserted into the tenon to act as a hanger.

The stem was suspended in Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer overnight. I refer to this as deox, kind of like detox for alcoholics or drug users (it makes me smile).

Before I gave the stummel a scrub I wanted to see if there was some kind of a clear coat finish applied. I thought the smooth underside of the shank looked too glossy for no finish. I wiped the stummel with 95% ethyl alcohol on a make-up pad. The pad immediately picked up stain. Yay, no finish to remove just a very nicely sanded and stained piece of briar.

The stummel was taken to the sink for its scrubbing. 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 I wiped the stummel with alcohol wetted make-up pads. I was amazed at how much stain came off.

The team was gathered.

The #1 and #2 blades of the PipNet did most of the work but the Kleen-Reem was used to ream the bottom of the tobacco chamber as it was bored with a more tapered bit than the PipNet blades.

The final scraping was done with the General triangular scraper. I had ground the sharpened factory tip off the General and it was perfect for getting the bottom of the chambers done.

The interior of the chamber was sanded with 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel. The chamber showed no evidence of any heat damage or charring.

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

I laid the stem onto a coarse shop rag. I like the coarse rag for vigorously rubbing the stem after deox to remove the remaining solution and some of the oxidized rubber that was loosened by the deox.

Below you can see a good deal of removed oxidized material on the rag.

Back at the workbench the stem looked much better, well more black, though the surface now showed light pitting from the removal of the oxidized vulcanite.

I used make-up pads drizzled with Soft Scrub cleanser to rub the stem surface. This removed more of the oxidized rubber.

I tried hand buffing the stem with Before and After Fine Polish. In a conversation I had with the inventor of the Before and After products, Mark Hoover, he mentioned that this was his preferred technique.

The Fine Polish did improve the condition of the stem but I think I am too impatient for Mark’s technique. I masked off the logo, mounted the stem to the shank and masked off the shank. I was going to use the buffer and see if I could get rid of the remaining oxidation.

At the buffer I used the dedicated rouge wheel and compound.

The buffing worked wonders but there remained brown areas which I was not happy with. The worst was immediately below the button. I tried sanding with 320 and 400 grit sanding sponges.

The brown persisted. I then brought out the big gun – a small flat file. The area below the button was filed on both top and bottom.

This was then resanded with the 320 and 400 sanding sponges then rebuffed. Finally I was happy with the appearance of the stem.

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

Once the deoxidation process was completed I could see that the BARI logo was a gold looking paint. I decided to use Rub’nBuff Gold Leaf on it.

The Run’nBuff was applied with a fly tying bodkin and worked into the impressions.

The slightly dried gold leaf was then rubbed and buffed by hand. A little bit of the metallic gold was still present but I knew that the imminent Fine and Extra Fine Polish would remove that.

The stem was then hand buffed with Before and After Fine Polish on a soft cotton cloth.

The stem received a similar hand polishing with Before and After Extra Fine Polish.

I opted to use Renaissance Micro-Crystalline Wax rather than carnauba since some of the rustications from the sandblast were deep enough that I thought the carnauba would just accumulate too much in the pores. The Renaissance was applied with a baby toothbrush, allowed to dry for 10 minutes then buffed with a clean buffing wheel on the buffer. While at the buffer I applied several coats of carnauba wax to the stem and the smooth surface on the underside of the shank.

The final step was a hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth.

This Bari De Luxe 710 turned out beautifully. The stem, which I had my doubts about, restored very nicely and now has a glorious high gloss black finish returned to it. The sandblast of the briar is just lovely and delicate, fitting perfectly to the delicate curves of the stem and shank. Normally I like a slightly more robust pipe but the dimensions of this Bari fit well in hand and clenching it is easy and comfortable. The texture also feels very good. What more can you ask for from a pipe that looks as good as it feels? The dimensions of the Bari De Luxe 710 are:

Length: 5.75 in./ 146.05 mm.

Weight: 1.35 oz./ 38.27 g.

Bowl Height: 1.88 in./ 47.75 mm.

Chamber Depth: 1.58 in./ 40.13 mm.

Chamber Diameter: 0.72 in./ 13.17 mm.

Outside Diameter: 1.39 in./ 35.31 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 Bari De Luxe 710.
A No Name Rusticated Pot (AKA a Custom-Bilt copycat?)

February 13th, 2025
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

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.
A Czech Churchwarden Restoration

January 9th, 2025
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

I picked up a pipe rack for churchwardens the other day and upon placing pipes in it I realized I was short one churchwarden. Well, my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) could not stand for that. Actually I think it should be CDO (compulsive disorder of obsessions) that way it is in alphabetical order. Anyway, I did happen to have a little churchwarden in need of restoration. I had apparently led a life of sunlight exposure and wore the oxidation scars to prove it. The little Czech appeared as below prior to any work done.

Yeah, she looked rough. The glaring issues were the chipped faded clear coat, the charred rim and the heavily oxidized stem. The good news was that the briar was nice, thick and looked structurally sound, there were no deep bite marks on the stem and the mortise to tenon fit was tight. This restoration would be some work but it looked promising.

Background

I did not have much to go on researching this pipe. The only stamp was CZECH on the left shank. Both pipephil.eu and pipedia.org came up empty for that stamp. Surprisingly, pipephile.eu only has 6 makers listed from the Czech Republic and they all appear to be artisan carvers. This pipe does not strike me as artisanal. Pipedia.org lists significantly more than 6 with nearly all of them also artisan pipe makers. The one factory pipe maker mentioned was BPK. The BPK name in the country index listed had the following:

BPK Czech inexpensive brand with long tradition. Factory made pipes mainly for export.

(Pipe Brands / Makers – Pipedia)

Upon following the link to BPK this short entry is all the information to be found,

“A long tradition of producing pipes. BPK company exports pipes to more than 40 countries. The production of pipes has been traditionally connected with small town Prosec u Skutce since 1842. Prosec is situated in the heart of Czech Republic, approximately 150 km (93 miles) far from Prague. Since the change of political situation in 1989 the company BPK, Ltd has been continueing in the traditional production.” (BPK – Pipedia).

BPK

Located in the town of Proseč, Czech Republic, the BPK workshop makes pipes since 1842. The firm succeeded at a time when pipe market was growing. At first, BPK pipes were actually not made with briar, but with other types of wood: alder, maple or pear tree. M. Zabor Bernard Kopperle (officer of the company) will only begin to use briar in 1910 for his pipes. The result is stunning because of the briar properties, particularly for tobaccos combustion: more heatproof and better for smokers when it comes to the taste. The BPK pipes success was immediate, and pipes were therefore exported in numerous neighbor countries. In the late 30s, more than 600 craftspeople worked for the production of BPK pipes! Nowadays, these pipes are still liked by smokers thanks to their classical design. Their silhouettes are simple and without any flourishes. Last criterion, and an important one: BPK pipes are proposed at an affordable price!

(BPK pipes from 1842, made in Czech Republic – La Pipe Rit)

The Restoration

I think I need to get some larger and fresher denim for workbench working surfaces.

The reaming tools were gathered.

The #1 blades of the PipNet did the majority of the work with the Smokingpipes Low Country Reamer and the General Triangular scraper just finishing up the process.

The interior of the tobacco chamber was sanded with 320 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel. No signs of any damage were observed in the bare briar.

The rim was scraped with a sharp pocket knife to remove the lava. The stummel was topped using a piece of 320 sandpaper laid flat on a counter. This was followed by topping the stummel with 400 grit sandpaper. I then tried a technique described to me by Sascha Mertens, a pipe restorer from Germany, where petroleum jelly is rubbed onto the charred briar and then gently scraped with a sharp knife. This application of petroleum jelly and scraping was repeated several times.

The stummel was then taken to the sink for a scrubbing 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.

Back at the workbench the now clean finish could be seen more clearly.

I tried dissolving the clear coat with an acetone dipped make-up pad. The finish did surrender to the acetone but the process was slow. The remaining finish was thickly applied and soaking the stummel seemed to be a more effective approach.

The stummel was submerged in a jar of acetone for 30 minutes.

Upon removing the stummel from the acetone, I could see the finish had softened and bubbled up from the briar. This was rubbed off with a couple of make-up pads dipped in acetone.

In places the remaining finish was scraped with my thumbnail while it was still soft. As the acetone evaporated the finish rehardened but was far easier to remove with additional rubbing with the make-up pads.

While the airway was still moist with aceti=one I quickly worked with folded bristle pipe cleaners to remove the softened tar. Additional cotton swabs dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol were used to clean the shank along with more pipe cleaners.

The rim looked far better than it did originally however there remained a darker area where the charring was the worst. This can be seen in the below image even with the poor focus.

I decided to try to lighten the briar by bleaching it with a saturated oxalic acid solution.

Rather than just treating the darkened areas I treated the entire stummel. An empty 20 gauge shotgun shell was used as a handle as it fit tightly into the tobacco chamber. The oxalic acid solution was painted using a cotton swab. As the solution soaked into the briar and/or dried additional oxalic acid was applied.

The stummel was allowed to dry and to let the oxalic acid work. 30 minutes later the dry stummel appeared as below.

The stummel was taken to the sink where it was rinsed with warm water and scrubbed with a dish detergent. My thinking was that the basic nature of the dish soap would neutralize any acid remaining. Back at the workbench the stummel was wiped with a95% ethyl alcohol on a make-up pad. No significant color came off the stummel with the alcohol.

The pits and old fills were picked with a fly tying bodkin to remove the old fill material. New fills were done using brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) and briar dust. The CA was placed into the pit with a fly tying bodkin then briar dust was pressed into the wet CA. The subsequent fills were filed with a small flat file then sanded with a 400 grit sanding sponge. This was repeated for larger pits.

To further conceal the slightly darkened rim and the new fills as well as accentuate the briar grain, I decided to give the stummel a contrast dye with black Fiebing’s Leather Dye. The counter was covered with a folded paper towel. The 20 gauge shell was wrapped with a layer of masking tape to tighten the seal to the tobacco chamber and limit dye from entering. A folded pipe cleaner acted as the applicator for the dye.

The black dye was applied with the pipe cleaner then flamed with the lighter. This allows the solvents in the dye to burn off and fix the dye to the briar. The process was then repeated.

The dye was allowed to dry for about 30 minutes. The stummel was then sanded with a 320 sanding sponge to remove the outermost layer of black dyed briar. The dye penetrates more deeply in the softer grained wood. By lightly sanding the surface and removing only the outermost layer the briar grain can be differentially dyed. The stummel was then sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 400-3500 grits. In between each sponge the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad moistened with alcohol to remove sanding debris.

The stummel was then worked with 4000-120000 micro-mesh pads. Between each pad the stummel was again alcohol wiped.

The stummel was given a liberal coating of Before and After Restoration Balm and allowed to sit for 20 minutes while the balm worked its magic on the briar.

The balm was then wiped from the stummel using an inside out athletic sock.

This heavily oxidized stem was so long that I couldn’t manage a container which could hold Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer. Removing that from my restoration arsenal, I had to rely on sanding alone. I knew that this would probably result with a finished product that retained some brown rather than the desired black. The brown oxidized vulcanite would probably be near the shank end where extra sanding would remove so much material that the fit to the shank would be negatively affected. Oh well, I figured that I would cross that bridge when I got there. I started the sanding with a light touch and the 320 grit sponge. The oxidation removed better than I had hoped. I proceeded through the series of sponges 400-3500, though the photo below only shows 400-1500. Between each sponge I rubbed mineral oil onto the stem and wiped it with a paper towel to remove sanding debris.

I cleaned the airway with bristle and soft pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. I had to approach the stem from both ends for the cleaning due to the length.

The stem was then worked with micro-mesh pads 4000-12000. Between these pads I rubbed the stem with Obsidian Oil and wiped it with a paper towel.

The final polishing was done with Before and After Fine Polish hand rubbed with a soft cotton cloth. This was repeated several times with fresh Fine Polish. I eventually ended with the Before and After Extra Fine Polish and the soft cotton cloth. The stem looked good but did show slight oxidation at the shank end. I hate it when I’m right about these things.

The pipe was taken to the buffer where it received several coats of carnauba wax. The final step was a hand buffing of the pipe with a microfiber polishing cloth.

All told, this lovely Czech churchwarden turned out very nicely. The best part is that it completely fills the 6th slot of my churchwarden pipe rack enabling me to sleep OCD free at night. The contrast dye worked at accentuating the briar grain while concealing the previously charred rim and numerous fills. The stem polished up better than I had anticipated. And looks very good in normal room lighting. Bright lights do allow the oxidized vulcanite to be seen at the shank end. The dimensions of the Czech Churchwarden are:
- Length: 10.75 in./ 273.05 mm.
- Weight: 1.35 oz./ 38.27 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.59 in./ 40.39 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.19 in./ 30.23 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.63 in./ 16.00 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.38 in./ 35.05 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 Czech Churchwarden.
A Custom-Bilt Circle Stamped Restoration

January 2nd, 2025
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

The story and mystique of Custom-Bilt or Custombilt pipes and their inventor, Tracy Mincer, are things of pipe legend. I have to admit to having only restored one Custombilt pipe and it was a pipe actually made after the death of Tracy Mincer in 1964. My only Custombilt was a Wally Frank ere pipe probably made in the 1970s (that restoration can be found here: https://wordpress.com/post/scimansays1787.com/3262). Although, I also did restore a Doodler. Declaring that pipe an actual Tracy Mincer piece would be fraught with uncertainty (https://wordpress.com/post/scimansays1787.com/369) This pipe was older and wore the following stamps Custom-Bilt on the left shank, IMPORTED BRIAR on the bottom and a circle on the lower right shank. Below are some photographs taken prior to working on the pipe.

As you can see it was a rusticated pipe typical of Mincer Custom-Bilts. The size was smaller, what I would call medium sized. The most glaring issue was the chipped mouthpiece which would require some creative repairs. The tobacco chamber had a significant cake build-up indicative of a well used pipe. This was also evident in the lava flowing onto the rim. There was also the expected dirt and grime ground into the rustications. This was going to be fun.

Background

The standard starting point for researching a pipe typically includes pipedia.org. The query of Tracy Mincer, originator of Custom-Bilt, will take you to this brief entry:

“Tracy Mincer started the original Custom-Bilt pipe company in 1934. In 1946, the name was changed to Custombilt after Mincer began an association with Eugene J. Rich, Inc. There were some big changes in advertising and distribution. The slogan “AS INDIVIDUAL AS A THUMBPRINT” began at this time as well.

In the early 1950’s, Tracy Mincer developed severe financial problems that caused him to stop making the Custombilt, and he lost the name. n 1952, Mincer began a new pipe, The Doodler, that due to the holes in the bowl had to made primarily in a billiard type shape in three sizes. In the early 1950s, National Briar was turning the bowls for Mincer. Based upon the documentation, it appears that Mincer made the pipe until the mid 1960s, when National Briar Pipe Co., Inc. began making and selling the Doodler.

Mincer died in 1964. Based upon the information provided, Mincer seemed to always have money, production, distribution and other problems. Mincer was probably a terrific craftsman but a very poor businessman and administrator. To me, Mincer sounds like your typical small business entrepreneur who always knew what was right and if you disagreed¼problems. Mincer always seemed to be on the brink of going out of business, not meeting payroll and so on.

Claude Stuart purchased the Tracy Mincer Pipe Company and began making pipes using the Tracy Mincer stamp. Stuart finished nearly all the pipes produced, mostly carved and textured bowls and the occasional straight grain. Claude made the Tracy Mincer Pipe Company a moderate success. Stuart became ill and in 1990 The Tracey Mincer Pipe Company went out of business. Currently, Jim Tedesco owns the Tracy Mincer name.

These interesting examples bellow are pipes made with the Tracy Mincer stamp. If you any additional information about these pipes, or can otherwise add to the history of this interesting pipe man, please add it here, or send it to sethile.pipes@gmail.com, and we can add it for you.” (Mincer – Pipedia).

There is a book written by William E. Unger, Jr.,Ph.D titled “As Individual As A Thumbprint”: The Custom-Bilt Pipe Story. This book appears to be self published by Dr. Unger at The Graphic Touch, of Columbus, Ohio. Printed in 2001 and bound with a black plastic spiral, the book states that the entire contents are “All rights reserved…without permission in writing from the author”. Dr. Unger passed away January 1, 2013 (obituary: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/dispatch/name/william-unger-obituary?id=12197453) and the book is no longer in print. This unfortunately means that I will not be including any quotes from the book. We’ll see how I get around that, I guess. I got lucky and purchased a copy from eBay for under $30 (with shipping) earlier this year, after watching several copies sell for what I considered astronomical prices. The book is a remarkable piece of work and is the definitive history of the Custom-Bilt pipe. The research that Dr. Unger put into getting the story correct is amazing. Fortunately there were several past employees, friends and relatives associated with Tracy Miller and the company that were able to give interviews and explanations to the inner workings of the company.

In regards to the stamps on the pipe in hand, I will speak to what I have found in Unger’s book, without quoting any of it. The first thing that needs clarification is the Custom-Bilt vs. Custombilt name. I’ll paraphrase William Unger here, the first stamps used by Tracy Mincer were “Custom-Bilt”. These were used from 1938-1946 definitively and less definitively prior to 1938. You could, perhaps, find reference to this in the book on page 91. There, I think that should give me legitimacy and keep any lawyers at bay. Next we examine the IMPORTED BRIAR stamp on the bottom of the pipe. Unger states that he has inspected a large number of Custom-bilt pipes and that about ½ of them do not have this stamp. He declares that he is at a loss to explain either their absence or presence This lack of explanation might be seen towards the bottom of page 114. The final stamp on this Custom-Bilt is the geometric circle stamped on the shank. Certainly these stamps have some utilitarian meaning. Nope. Unger declares that he is not able to explain any system where shapes such as circles, triangles, stars, rectangles, half moons or even trapezoids have any systematic meaning. This may or may not be seen on the top of page 114.

Pipephil.eu does allow quotations with proper referencing and shows nice examples of the above-mentioned geometric stamps.

(Cos-Cz — Pipes : Logos & Markings)

The Restoration

The photos don’t show it very well but I didn’t feel too bad about the stains on the denim in comparison to the dirtiness of this pipe.

The first step was to gather the remaining tools: The PipNet, Smokingpipes Low Country Reamer, General triangular scraper and 320 sandpaper wrapped wood dowel.

The #2 and #3 blades of the PipNet did their work beautifully with little need for the other scrapers.

The tobacco chamber was sanded to bare briar and showed no signs of any damage.

The shank was cleaned out by running the Kleen-Reem drill through the airway. The drill had to be cleaned out several times as the tars from the airway filled the grooves. 95% ethyl alcohol was used with the nylon shank brush, bristle pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to clean out the yuck.

The stummel was taken to the sink for a scrub 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.

There remained some ground in dirt and grime in the rustications and the rim did not clean-up as well as I like so a second scrubbing with the Murphy’s was done. This time with a brass brush. That worked a bit more aggressively to remove the external yuck.

Again, the stummel was rinsed with warm water and dried.

Back at the workbench the stummel was wiped with a makeup pad dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. The wiping removed a bit more of the accumulated grime but the briar looked much better.

The stem was quite dirty and required a good number of bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol to clean out the airway.

The stummel was given a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm and allowed to sit for over an hour.

After the break I returned to the stummel and wiped the remaining balm from it with an inside out athletic sock.

Also during the break I came up with a plan for repairing the chipped section of the button. I planned on using the Dremel tool and the bit I use for cutting a new slot in a mouthpiece. The below photo shows the bit.

The next photo is the bit in reference to a piece of 2 mm brass rod.

The goal was to use the Dremel to cut a channel for the brass rod to fit into spanning the missing section. Below you can see the brass rod cut to fit into these grooves. The piece of green plastic is a piece of a lid that I cut to act as a dam, preventing glue from seeping into the airway.

I used cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) to fix the brass rod into position.

To make sure the brass rod did not emerge through the new button material I ground the brass down using the same Demel bit. The photo below shows the tapered brass after grinding.

With the brass rod in place and held at its opposite ends with CA, I planned on building up the missing material with black two part epoxy. To prevent the epoxy from adhering to the dam, I coated it with petroleum jelly and reinserted it into the airway.

The epoxy was mixed on a piece of plastic. I accidentally got more of one part than I intended, thus the usable part of the mix in the half below the fly tying bodkin in the below photo.

The epoxy was applied to the stem thickly enough as to rebuild the missing button.

The shank of the pipe was wrapped in masking tape to protect it from any sanding of the stem. Since the area to be replaced was the underside or bottom of the button, I let gravity pull the curing epoxy earthward. This allowed the “drip” to thicken the button where I wanted more material.

After 2 hours I removed the dam. The button looked rough but the epoxy had provided enough material to be reshaped into a new button.

After curing for about 2 hours the epoxy had assumed its shape and was no longer flowing. It did remain soft though. Soft enough for me to cut a nice straight edge with an Exacto knife.

The epoxy was allowed to cure for an additional 4 hours. After this time it was hard enough to allow me to file and sand the button to an appropriate shape.

The below photo shows the slight color difference of the black epoxy prior to it being finish sanded, micro-meshed and polished.

The stem was sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 400-3500 grit. Between each sponge I rubbed the stem with mineral oil and wiped it with a paper towel.

The stem was then worked with micro-mesh pads 4000-12000. Between each pad the stem was rubbed with Obsidian Oil and wiped with a dry paper towel.

With a surface as rusticated as this I opted to apply Renaissance Micro-Crystalline Wax instead of carnauba. The wax was applied with a baby toothbrush and allowed to dry for a few minutes. I then took it to the buffer and buffed it with a clean flannel wheel.

The stem received several coats of carnauba wax from the buffer. The entire pipe was then hand buffed with a microfiber polishing cloth.

Overall, this circle stamped Custom-Bilt turned out beautifully. I have a new appreciation for Tracy Mincer’s work. The pipe is smaller than I expected a Custom-Bilt to be but it has thatTracy Mincer look with its deep rustications and hefty wall thickness. It is lightweight and feels great in hand. I am happy with the stem rebuilding but not with the quality of the vulcanite. There seem to be tiny inclusions in the rubber. These are readily available under very bright light yet not noticeable with normal room light. I think they are due to the recycling of tires for rubber during the war years of World War Two. I can certainly understand why the pipes have attracted a following, even 80 years after they were made and 60 years after Tracy Mincer’s passing.

The dimensions of the Custom-Bilt are:
- Length: 4.89 in./ 124.21 mm.
- Weight: 1.28 oz./ 36.29 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.70 in./ 43.18 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.36 in./ 34.54 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.79 in./ 20.07 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 completed Custom-Bilt Circle Stamped pipe.