Restoring an 1866 Bavarian Hunter Pipe Attic Find

Pipes end up in the oddest places sometimes. Many people have found pipes washed up on riverbanks or beaches, tucked into the rafters of sheds and barns, and in the case of today’s estate pipe, in the attic of an old house.

I was contacted by a fellow in Winnipeg, Manitoba about the possibility of restoring this unique find to its original glory. As this series of images illustrates, the stummel is carved from meerschaum and features a hunting scene with a racing Stag, trees and a hunter’s cabin above the year 1866 carved into the front face of the bowl. The stummel also sports a brass wind cap and shank ring.

The stummel was in remarkable condition for its age, likely due in part to the protection afforded by the brass wind cap and shank trim. Both were dirty and oxidized, but would clean up well. Even the original cork gasket in the shank was intact, though quite dry.

Before I got too far into the project, I needed to figure out how to replace the missing shank and mouthpiece. Traditionally, this style of pipe would have been kitted out with a shank of cherrywood and a bent mouthpiece made from horn or, in later pipes, Ebonite or Acrylic. Neither of these parts are mass produced anymore, nor are they available through the usual parts supply houses. This poses an obvious problem – where to source replacement parts at affordable prices?

The answer in many, if not most, cases in 2024 is to make the parts in-house, but while I was fairly confident I could turn a suitable mouthpiece from Ebonite or Acrylic, sourcing a dry, straight cherrywood branch to fashion into a shank for the pipe was a bit more of a problem.

That’s when I decided to do a deep dive into the various bins and boxes in the shop on a search for potential replacement parts. I hold on to just about any pipe-related parts I come across, especially older parts. As luck would have it, I rediscovered not one but two cherrywood shanks complete with original mouthpieces! The first was a smaller set, with roughly a 5 inch long shank, while the second set was larger, with an 8 inch long shank.

After a bit of back and forth with the pipes steward, it was decided that the longer shank would be fit to the stummel. As part of the work, I’d also clean and wax the meerschaum and replace the decaying cord used to keep bowl and shank together.

I began by cleaning the stummel. There was a light amount of carbon cake in the chamber which surrendered easily to some sandpaper wrapped around a dowel. A few cotton swabs and pipe cleaners dipped in 99% isopropyl alcohol took care of the tarry deposits in the shank and airway.

A very gentle scrub with a damp, not wet, toothbrush did wonders to remove the ingrained dirt, dust and debris trapped in the carved hunting motif. The tiny amount of water used also provided a hint at the colour change to come when the stummel was waxed later.

To moisturize and revive the cork shank gasket, I applied some petroleum jelly directly to the cork. The dry cork absorbed the jelly, becoming supple and spongy quite quickly. A certain amount of give in the cork gasket is what allows it to grip securely onto the shank tenon, so periodic maintenance is recommended.

With the internals clean, I turned my attention to the brass fittings, first scrubbing them with cotton swabs and more alcohol to break down and remove the tars and sooty deposits, followed by a quick polishing with 0000 steel wool. The steel wool removes any lingering gunk, grease or wax from the brass without scratching the metal.

Then it was time to fit the cherrywood shank to the bowl. The existing tenon was far too large for this stummel, so I mounted the shank in the lathe and carefully turned the tenon down to achieve a good friction fit inside the cork gasket. So far, so good!

Switching my attention to the mouthpiece, I discovered a few tooth dents on the top and bottom of the bit. Interestingly, this mouthpiece is made of some type of faux horn, possibly Bakelite (?), but regardless, the repair is the same.

I sanded the mouthpiece lightly, then used a black marker to darken the bottom of the tooth dents before filling each with clear CA glue. I set the mouthpiece aside to let the glue cure completely before filing and sanding the patches flush with the surrounding material. It took a few repeat applications of glue to get the dents completely smooth, but the end results were quite acceptable. A few strokes with a brass metallic Sharpie replicated the faux-horn lines in the mouthpiece, adding to the illusion.

I buffed the renewed mouthpiece to bring up the shine, then borrowed some green embroidery floss from my daughter’s crafting kit to replace the rotten old cord on the shank.

The cord is fed through a small eyelet on the rear of the wind cap, then twisted around the cherrywood shank before being tied off at the mouthpiece. The ends of the cord are decorated with tiny wooden baubles shaped like acorns – another nod to the outdoorsman theme of this Hunter pipe. These pics show the original cord and the replacement after install.

The last thing on the to-do list for this restoration was to wax the meerschaum stummel to bring out the colouration and give the pipe a nice soft gloss finish. The stummel was too large to fit in my little crock pot of beeswax, so I applied the beeswax with a cotton applicator and a heat gun.

For this process, I fit a junk stem to the shank to use as a handle, then heated the meerschaum over the heat gun. The wax was applied to the warm meerschaum, where it was very quickly absorbed. I kept adding wax until the stummel couldn’t absorb more, then set the pipe on a clean towel to cool.

When I could comfortably handle the stummel, I hand buffed it with a soft towel to remove any excess wax and bring up the shine. These pics show the results of the waxing.

And with that, this estate pipe restoration was complete. What arrived in the shop as a lonely old meerschaum stummel has been transformed into quite a handsome late 19th Century Bavarian-style Hunter pipe. It has been sent back to its new steward in Winnipeg, where I trust it will serve as both a steadfast smoking companion and a fascinating conversation piece for many years to come.

Thanks for joining me on this unique restoration journey. This project would have been much more complicated (and expensive) had I been required to craft a new shank and moutpiece, but fortunately my spare parts bin came through when the chips were down.

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