Resuscitating a Well Used Peterson XL18 Oom Paul Silver Spigot

The pipe on the workbench today came in to the DadsPipes shop as part of a larger lot of estate pipes sent to me for restoration from a gent in California. The pipe caught my eye immediately – a larger Oom Paul shape tends to do that, but Peterson is known for its stoutly-carved stummels. Of greater interest to me was the Cumberland Fishtail stem, set off against a Sterling Silver Spigot fitting.

Here is the pipe as it looked upon arrival. As you can see, it had been well used by its former steward, to the point where maintenance took a back seat. The pipe was dirty, with a solid crust of carbon “lava” covering the rim of the bowl. The silver fitment was tarnished and dented, and the Cumberland stem was oxidized and sported a whitish mineral accretion near the button. The slot was packed full of old tars and debris, and heavy dents in the top and bottom of the bite zone told me that the pipe’s former steward was definitely in the habit of clenching the pipe in his teeth.

The silver shank cap is stamped ” Peterson’s” over “Dublin”, then “Sterling Silver” followed by a trio of hallmark consisting of Hibernia (Dublin), 925 (sterling silver) and a third mark I could not quite distinguish. The third hallmark is usually a date letter, but this hallmark looks more like a coat of arms of some sort.

When looking for help with a Peterson pipe, there is only one gentleman to ask for assistance. Mark Irwin, author of “The Peterson Pipe” and the man behind the “Peterson Pipe Notes” blog, never fails to come up with some great information. His email response to my query filled in the missing details:

On your hallmark, I’m so glad you asked, because I want to incorporate this particular mark in my hallmark chart when I update it for both the blog and the next Pete book. This mark is called a CCM or Common Control Mark. It’s an international, rather than national, hallmark, indicating precious metal purity. The Goldsmiths of Dublin used it on and off for a while back in the 1990s then decided it wasn’t really necessary, sticking with their own alphabetic mark.

Your shape is the XL18 and in this configuration—with the shouldered Cumberland spigot—appeared c. 1991-95 after 1990’s XL18 System Commemorative oom paul. It was a way of dealing with a great unusual shape after the commemorative year passed and the bowls were usually sandblasted like yours, although I believe there were a few smooth ones. That shape also trickled down into a few other lines, but none with the great cumberland/vulcanite spigot!!

– Mark Irwin, Peterson Pipe Expert

Mark also included this pic of what the CCM stamp looked like when new. The 925 version is the correct one for sterling silver.

The Spigot portion of the silverwork is also marked “Peterson’s” over “Dublin”.

While I was inspecting the silver, I took a close shot of the larger of two dents in the shank cap. I’d have to sort the damage out if I wanted to get this pipe looking factory-fresh again.

I got the ball rolling on the basic cleanup of the pipe by carefully clearing the clogged stem slot of its built-up crud using a dental pick. I can only imagine how this pipe would have tasted during a smoke in its current condition. That’s got to be a sign of love on the part of the pipe’s former steward – such dedication!

Once the slot was open, a few pipe cleaners dipped in 99% isopropyl alcohol made sure that the stem’s airway was free of any blockages or old tars.

In an effort to remediate the tooth dents in in front of the button, I warmed the Cumberland over a lighter flame. This works about 45% of the time, in my experience. The heat softens the Ebonite and allows the dents to swell up and “remember” its previous shape. As this pic shows, the procedure was only partially successful.

With black or solid colour stems, using a colour-matched filler can get the repair done faster. With this Cumberland stem, however, the only real option for filling the remaining tooth dents was clear CA glue. I applied glue to both upper and lower surfaces of the stem in the damaged areas and allowed it to cure. In the end, I had to reapply the glue several times, filing and sanding in between applications, before I achieved a smooth finish.

Setting the mostly completed stem aside, I moved on to work on the stummel, starting with the carbon crust on the rim of the bowl. A brass tire brush made short work of the carbon layer and exposed the briar underneath. I used sandpaper wrapped around a dowel to remove a light amount of cake from the tobacco chamber.

The rim was looking slightly out of round, so I used a scrap of worn 220-grit sandpaper to clean up the bevel on the inner rim. This subtle redefinition of the rim restored the round appearance of the chamber bore.

Before getting into the deep cleaning I knew was coming , I wanted to remove the dented shank cap. After flowing some alcohol under the edge of the band using an eye dropper, I let the stummel sit for a few minutes while the alcohol softened the glue under the cap.

Very often the alcohol alone is enough to break the grip of the glue holding a shank cap or band in place, but not this time. I had to add heat to the equation before the silverwork could be twisted off the shank. I dropped the cap into an alcohol bath to help dissolve the remaining glue.

While the shank cap soaked, I scrubbed the glue residue from the shank with the help of the tire brush and some steel wool.

Then it was time to dive into the shank and airway. Given the obvious use the pipe had experienced since it was first purchased, I wasn’t at all surprised to find a lot of tars and debris clogging up the mortise and airway. It took quite a bit of work with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to remove the worst of the grime.

When I was happy with the state of the shank and airway, I gave the exterior of the pipe a scrub with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a toothbrush to remove the dirt, dust and old wax from the rusticated finish.

Before closing up for the night, I set the stummel up with an alcohol treatment. After packing the bowl and shank with cotton wool, I filled the pipe with alcohol and let it sit that way overnight.

And here is the stummel the next morning. As you can see, the alcohol did its work, dissolving the deep-seated tars and capturing them in the cotton wool. Tasty!

I used up another small pile of cotton swabs clearing out the more stubborn deposits. but eventually the swabs came out clean and the stummel was fresh and smelling a whole lot better.

With both stem and stummel now cleaned and ready to go, I needed to deal with the dented silver shank cap. After cleaning out the rest of the glue residue from the inside of the cap, I assembled a slightly peculiar assortment of tools – a flat piece of hardwood, a 10mm wrench, a needle file and a lighter.

I used the lighter to heat the silver shank cap in the damaged areas. In jewelers’ terms, this is called annealing the silver. The heat softens the metal, making it much easier to push the dents out from the inside using the curved end of the wrench, which just happened to fit the curvature of the piece perfectly. By inserting the end of the wrench into the shank cap, I could roll the cap on the hardwood while pressing the wrench downwards, smoothing out the dents. The wooden handle of the needle file was helpful on the flatter portions of the silver.

I worked carefully here, not wanting to add insult to the already injured silver, but it didn’t take long to achieve the results I was looking for. For reference, the large dent pictures above was situated in between the Sharpie marks on the shank cap in the pics below.

Happy with the restored shank cap, I glued it back in place on the shank with a bit of wood glue. When the glue was dry, I hit the briar with a coat of black leather dye to refresh the original black-over-red finish. I let the dye dry, then buffed away the excess by hand using an old towel. A wipe of mineral oil helped set the new stain and inject some moisture and vibrancy to the stummel.

All that was left now was to take the finished pipe to the buffer. I skipped the Tripoli compound for this job, but gave the bowl and stem a nice polishing on the White Diamond wheel followed by a few light coats of Carnauba wax to add shine and a layer of protection to the freshly restored pipe.

The finished pipe is a real looker and we can now appreciate its beauty just as the pipe’s first steward clearly did. This 1990s XL18 sports a fresh finish that complements the red and black of the Cumberland stem, and the restored silverwork shines in elegant counterpoint to the darker lustre of the briar. I am sure that the pipe’s new steward will be able to enjoy this lovely Peterson pipe for decades to come.

Thanks for following along on this restoration project. Until next time, Happy Piping!

Here’s the finished pipe.