I'm thrilled to announce that the Canada Post workers' union has ended the national mail strike, so letters and parcel are beginning to flow across Canada once again! Thank you to all of you who have been waiting patiently to send your cherished pipes in for repair or restoration. New shipments will be accepted at… Continue reading We Are Back!
Jobey pipes have been around in one form or another, made by one company or another, since about the end of World War I. The predominant appraisal of Jobey pipes over the years is that they were "good pipes for the price". Jobey made pipes in mostly classic shapes sold at low to midrange prices,… Continue reading A Gentle Restoration and New Link for a Patent Pending Jobey Extra Poker
As many of you already know, the union representing 55,000 workers at Canada Post has announced a strike, effective 25 September 2025. Canada Post’s operations will shut down during a national strike, affecting millions of Canadians and businesses across the country. What to Expect During a National Strike Mail and parcels will not be processed… Continue reading Canada Post Workers On Strike
Most of the time when clients bring me their pipes, they want me to make them look new again, or at least get close. Other times, like with today's project, I am asked to create something very different. The pipe on the worktable today is a brand I'd never come across before. The rather large… Continue reading Let’s Make A Vintage Style Cased House Pipe!
Toronto's Brigham Pipes Limited was a company in flux in the 1970s. After enjoying decades of growth and increased sales, the pipe industry suffered a global drop in demand, and by the middle of the 1970s, Brigham had truncated its main line of production pipes from seven quality levels to only five. Apart from the… Continue reading A New System Stem for a 1970s Vintage Brigham 424 Bent Billiard
Dunhill began using Bamboo for some of their pipes near the end of, or just after, the Second World War as an alternative to hard-to-source briar. Details on the first use of bamboo shanks by the English marque are a bit hazy, but the series is included at least as far back as the 1951… Continue reading Repairing a Seriously Cracked 1960 Dunhill W59 Whangee Bamboo Apple
Hi, everyone. It's mid-Summer so I thought I'd take a little break from restoration posts and instead do something a little different this week. I recently had the pleasure of speaking to Fraser Moss of the Prairie Piper YouTube channel about my ten years operating DadsPipes.com and my book, Brigham Pipes - A Century of… Continue reading Interview with Prairie Piper YouTube Channel
BP JUM pipes are a bit of a mystery. On one hand, they bear a striking resemblance to Custombilt pipes, and some speculate they were made by Tracey Mincer. On the other hand, there is, to my mind, a reasonable theory that the maker is actually Biltmore pipes, and that "BP JUM" may be a… Continue reading A Hand Cut Green Cumberland Ebonite Stem for a BP JUM
On July 19, 2025, DadsPipes hit a significant milestone - 10 years of pipe repairs and restorations! I'd like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported the site and the business over what has been a remarkable decade. I've been privileged to repair, restore and preserve thousands of pipes over the… Continue reading DadsPipes Turns Ten!
The Gourd Calabash pipe originated in South Africa, quickly becoming popular among British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand soldiers stationed there during the 1899-1902 Second Boer War. There is a larger Canadian connection here, too, as it was H.L. Blatter, his brother Ernest and sister Marguerite that founded a company to manufacture Gourd Calabash pipes… Continue reading Chamber Repairs and a General Freshening of a Vintage Gourd Calabash pipe
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