exploring the art of tobacco pipe restoration
Those of you familiar with the Brigham Shape Chart will already be aware that Brigham made many of the classic pipe shapes in a number of different sizes. Prior to the shift to European production, Brigham Billiards came in four regular sizes (Shapes 01, 02, 03 and 04) with several variants, including Tall, Chimney and…
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This smaller Peterson Canadian came to me in an estate lot I purchased earlier this summer. It was unremarkable at first glance, but I soon took another look at it after noticing the Peterson stamp on top of the slim oval shank. This series of pics shows the pipe as it was when I first…
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This week’s estate pipe restoration is the fitting of a new stem to a Hardcastle’s Seaton Billiard stummel, which came to me as part of a large lot of pipes for repair. As this series of pics shows, the stummel was in very good, if not unsmoked, condition. It had clearly been without a stem…
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The fifth and final pipe in the Castello lot, an Old Antiquari KKKK Saddle Billiard, was arguably the most difficult of the lot to refurbish, not because of any major flaws or damages, but rather due to its regular, if not favourite, position in the owner’s rotation. While just as well cared for as the…
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The fourth of five Castello pipes sent to me for cleanup and sale is a sandblasted Old Antiquari KKKK 1/8th Bent in what I will label as a Billiard despite its slightly unusual contours. While the rear line of the bowl is straight, the front of the bowl is slightly concave, giving the pipe a…
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This is the third of five Castello pipes sent to me for cleanup and sale. I posted the refurbishments of the first two some time ago but have been distracted by the Brigham book for a bit. Now that I’ve got a bit of breathing room in the schedule it’s time to finish off this…
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I was temporarily between projects the other day so I dug down to the bottom of my refurb box and came out with an old, well worn Canadian stummel. I brought it to the table and snapped this series of pics. Judging by the cleanliness of the chamber, I’ll suggest that this stummel was never…
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About a year ago, I wrote about the rediscovery of Brigham’s early line of non-Patent pipes and the subsequent restoration of two examples. I recently acquired a third Non-Patent Brigham pipe to add to the collection, this time in what Brigham called a Club shape, otherwise known as a Lovat. Here is how the pipe…
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This is the second of five Castello pipes I have been asked to restore and sell. Last time, we lookd at a sandblasted Castello Old Antiquari Oom Paul. This week we’re cleaning up a Castello “Castello” G Bent Billiard. Castello was founded by Carlo Scotti in Italy in 1947 and has become known for its…
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I missed last Friday’s post so I thought I’d push this one out a bit early. Posts will be spread out a bit over the next month or so to give me time to work on the Brigham book. I hope their quality makes up for the lack of quantity! – Charles Not long ago,…
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