Meerschaum, a soft whitish mineral, has been used to make smoking pipes since the early 1700s. It is easy to carve, will not burn, and, with time and use, turns from white to a rich, dark red/brown. On the down side, meerschaum is fragile - easily chipped, cracked or otherwise damaged - and due to… Continue reading Vintage Meerschaum Shank Rebuild and Re-Stem
Today's estate pipe repair project features a Kriswill Bernadotte pipe, hand made in Denmark by the factory founded by Karl Robert Kris in 1947. The Kriswill factory became a chief rival of another Danish brand, Stanwell, especially in the export market, but was hit hard in the 1970s by the worldwide drop in demand for… Continue reading Replacing a Triangular Stem on a Kriswill Bernadotte
Today's pipe was sent in by a fellow Canadian pipe lover for a bit of TLC, including an overall cleanup and a new stem to replace the original that had seen better days. As you can see in this initial series of images, the pipe is a Soren Hand Made Danish Freehand with some lovely… Continue reading Recreating an Original Detail while Re-Stemming a Soren Freehand
The Peterson Dunmore line, first launched in collaboration with Iwan Reis in 1971, was, according to this article by Mark Irwin, an attempt "to modernize the System pipe by removing what was perceived as the old-fashioned nickel mount." The series also featured a faux-Army mount stem and a carved beaded detail at the end of… Continue reading New Life for a Peterson Dunmore 406 Prince
The pipe on the bench today is a bit of a Canadian classic - a Brigham Shape 29 Author. Part of the Brigham lineup almost from the very beginning, the 29 shape is, in this age of larger pipes, rather a small version of the shape, especially when compared to contemporary cousins like the Savinelli… Continue reading Crack Repair and Restoration of a Vintage Brigham 629 Author
BBB pipes are a pillar of old English pipe making, started in 1856 as "Blumfeld's Best Briars" (later "Britain's Best Briars") when an 18-year-old Louis Blumfeld took over the management of the Adolph Frankau Company. The pipe on the bench today, a BBB Ultonia 442 Rhodesian, screams "classic English pipe", and shares a lot of… Continue reading Replacing a Broken Tenon on a BBB Ultonia 442 Rhodesian
Pipes of the Year are a relatively new development in the marketing of smoking pipes. In the early 1980s there were just a few manufacturers putting out limited runs of special edition pipes annually. Today, based primarily on demand from collectors, I'd wager that the majority of established pipe brands participate in at least one… Continue reading Restoring and Re-Stemming an Ascorti Business 2004 Pipe of the Year
Pipe smokers can usually be sorted into one of two camps when it comes to pipe maintenance. On one side are the pipe stewards who go out of their way not to damage their pipes in any way. These folks may clean the pipe after each and every smoke, never ream carbon cake with a… Continue reading Stem Repair and a General Freshening of a Carlo Scotti Castello Old Sea Rock Chimney
I was recently sent several pipes for refurbishment from a gentleman in Nova Scotia . These were found on an estate pipe hunt through a local antique mall, and while they were in fairly good condition overall, they were all in line for some TLC. The little Billiard on the bench today was the worst… Continue reading Stripping and Refinishing a Patent Era Brigham 302 Billiard
Peterson's 9BC shape is a true classic of the marque. The Shape 9 bowl is an original Charles Peterson design, part of the Peterson catalog since 1896, and, though the 9BC is out of production, it can still be found in modern Peterson pipes stamped as a 307, 9S or XL90s. The 9BC is also… Continue reading Major Structural Repairs to Save a “Made in Ireland” Peterson Dublin & London 9BC
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