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The DadsPipes Shedquarters Project Part II – Foundation & Shed Installation

Welcome to Part II of the DadsPipes Shedquarters build! In this instalment, I get the building foundation piers in, build a couple of beams and then sit back while the team from Old Hickory Buildings constructs the new shed on site. After a week and a half of rain, our capricious Ontario Spring finally provided a brief window of opportunity between storms to get the … Continue reading The DadsPipes Shedquarters Project Part II – Foundation & Shed Installation

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Restorations, Uncategorized

Rim Cleanup and a New Button for an Ardor Urano S. Holmes Rhodesian

This pipe was sent to me by a DadsPipes reader for a little TLC. As the pics below show, the pipe was actually in pretty good condition other than some lava on the rim and a chunk of lower button missing from the acrylic stem. The smooth underside of the shank is stamped “DR” over “Ardor” over “URANO” over “ITALY” over “S. HOLMES” over “FATTA … Continue reading Rim Cleanup and a New Button for an Ardor Urano S. Holmes Rhodesian

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Restorations, Uncategorized

Stem Repairs and a Good Cleaning for a Handsome Earl’s Court Silver Mount Prince

Every now and again I come across a pipe about which I can find no information. This Earl’s Court Prince is one such mystery. All of my searching has turned up exactly zilch, zip, zero – rather frustrating, especially as it is a well-made pipe with some years on it. This series of pcitures show the pipe as it looked when I first brought it … Continue reading Stem Repairs and a Good Cleaning for a Handsome Earl’s Court Silver Mount Prince

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Pipe Essays, Uncategorized

The DadsPipes Shedquarters Project Part I – Planning

It’s Easter Weekend, a time of renewal and rebirth and a definite sign that Spring is finally upon us here in Southern Ontario. It seems appropriate, then, to make the first of a series of posts about a project that will impact DadsPipes considerably over the year to come – a new “Shedquarters”! We moved to our current house last August. It’s a great house … Continue reading The DadsPipes Shedquarters Project Part I – Planning

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Restorations, Uncategorized

Adding a Brigham Shape 49 Bent Apple to the Collection

I started collecting Brigham pipes almost accidentally – my dad smoked Brighams, so it was natural that my first briar was also a Brigham – and the collecting began in earnest several years ago when I embarked on the Brigham Shape Chart project. Since then, I have managed to catalog over 80 vintage Brigham pipe shapes, adding about 60 of these shapes to my personal … Continue reading Adding a Brigham Shape 49 Bent Apple to the Collection

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Restorations, Uncategorized

Refreshing a Beautiful Harcourt B Freehand Tulip

I found this Harcourt (made by Preben Holm for Dunhill in the late 1970s and early 1980s) on a recent wander through a local antique mall and couldn’t pass it up. This pipe has beautiful lines – a long, slender bowl shaped like a Tulip flower, plateaux rim and shank end and lovely vertical flame grain. The briar was in very good shape. The stem, … Continue reading Refreshing a Beautiful Harcourt B Freehand Tulip

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Restorations, Uncategorized

Reclaiming a Trashed Brigham 720

A recent eBay purchase left me wondering about the habits and motivations of a certain subset of old pipe smokers, specifically those that seem to show no care or concern for maintaining their favourite briar companions. The eBay lot was made up of five old Brigham pipes which included both high end and entry level briars. Curiously, the 1 and 2-Dot pipes in the box … Continue reading Reclaiming a Trashed Brigham 720

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