Crafting a New Orific Stem for a 1902 Loewe & Co Army Mount Meerschaum

As one might imagine, the majority of the pipes sent in to me for repair or restoration are fairly new, at least in pipe terms, dating from the Post-WWII years through to the present day. Every now and then, however, I get the chance to work with a genuinely old pipe like this 1902 Loewe & Co Army Mount Meerschaum.

Sent in by an American pipe collector, the pipe arrived on the workbench as seen in the images below, sans stem. As you can see, the stummel appeared to be in good overall estate condition with no major cracks or other obvious damage. The rim needed a cleanup to remove some carbon crust and the bowl sported a few shadowy blotches on the right side, but otherwise, the main objective was to hand cut a period-correct orific stem to complete the pipe and return it to active service.

In contrast to the modern, slotted bit that gained wide acceptance by pipe makers in the 1920s, an orific bit features a simple round airway through the stem. Often the stem profile is also round but can also be slightly flattened into an oval cross section.

The pipe’s sterling shank band is marked “L&C^o” inside an oval, “RD” in a rectangular cartouche and finally with a trio of hallmarks made up of a Lion Passant, a Leopoard’s Head and a Lowercase “G”.

The first mark identifies the maker as Loewe & Co.

If my research holds, “RD” in a chamfered rectangle identifies the silversmith as one Robert Victor Dumenil.

And finally, the hallmarks tell us that the band is was made from Sterling Silver (*Lion Passant) in the City of London (Leopard’s Head) in 1902 (lowercase “g”).

With the origins of the pipe sorted out, I turned to cleanup, starting with removing a light amount of carbon cake form the bowl. As a mined mineral, meerschaum does not need a cake layer in the chamber to protect the bowl from heat like briar or other wooden pipes, so I cleaned the chamber down to the meerschaum.

I also tidied up the rim, gently scraping off the carbon crust before tidying things up with a worn 320-grit sanding pad.

A few pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in 99% isopropyl alcohol removed a small deposit of tars from the shank and airway.

This closeup shot shows some of the mystery blotches. Whatever was spilled on the stummel soaked in deeply and is now, for good or ill, part of this pipe’s personality.

With the stummel cleaned, it was time to turn my attention to the new Ebonite stem. As I did not have the original stem to use as a pattern for the new one, I aimed for a stem length that would make the pipe between 5-3/4 and 6 inches long overall. After cutting a section of Ebonite rod to size, I drilled a straight 1/8″ airway through the entire rod.

The tenon on an Army mount stem is the vital link between the two halves of the pipe, so I began my work here, carefully cutting a tapered tenon to match the contours of the shank mortise. Left too large, the tenon would not seat fully in the shank; too loose and the stem would wobble or simply fall out.

When I was happy with the tenon, I started roughing in the rest of the stem. This pic shows the stem after rough shaping with coarse files.

Moving to progressively finer and smaller files, the Ebonite began to look less like a rod and more like a pipe stem.

This shot shows the round airway and a roughly shaped button.

And here is the first test fit of the mostly-shaped stem. Looking good!

I prepared the new stem for final buffing and polishing by hand sanding with 220 through 2000 grit sandpapers to smooth out the file marks and further refine the stem.

Now that the stem was ready to go, I turned my attention back to the stummel. The dry, off-white appearance of the meerschaum told me that the pipe had not been waxed in a very long time. Meerschaum stummels are dipped in melted beeswax at the factory, and should be re-waxed periodically to bring out the sought-after colouration.

I use a small crock pot of beeswax for this job. After plugging both chamber and shank openings to keep the wax out of the pipe’s internals, I popped the stummel into the hot wax and let it soak for a few minutes, turning it over periodically for even coverage.

The beeswax penetrates the porous meerschaum and pulls the amber/brown tobacco residue collected by smoking the pipe to the surface. As these next images, taken just after removing the stummel from the wax, show just how much use the pipe had seen in its its 121 years.

After allowing the stummel to cool, I hand buffed it in a soft towel to remove the excess wax and bring up a soft lustrous shine. Then all that was left to do was to take the new stem to the buffer for a run on the Red Tripoli and White Diamond wheels to remove the last of the fine sanding marks and bring up the shine. A few coats of Carnauba wax added more shine and a layer of UV protection for the Ebonite.

The finished pipe is looking great after its time on the bench. The meerschaum is now clean, fresh and smells gently of honey. The Sterling shank cap gleams brightly, set off against the deep black gloss of the new orific stem.

This veteran pipe is ready to be returned to its steward, for whom it should serve very well for many years to come. With care and a bit of luck, it may even see another 121 years.

Thanks for joining me for this unique estate pipe restoration. I don’t get to make many orific stems, or work on many pipes with over a century of life behind them. I’m pleased I was able to put this 1902 Loewe & Co Army Mount Billiard back into active service.

Until next time, Happy Piping! Here’s the finished pipe.