Welcome to Part II of the repair and restoration of an 1850 Long Pipe! Last time, we covered the work completed on the pipe's long Cherrywood shank and unique Ebonite mouthpiece with a flexible leather-wrapped shaft. We also hand cut a new Ebonite bit to replace the original that had been broken short at some… Continue reading Restoration of an 1850 Meerschaum & Silver Long Pipe Part II
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
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… Continue reading Restoring an 1866 Bavarian Hunter Pipe Attic Find
A long-standing DadsPipes client contacted me one day with an interesting project. As part of a large and ever-growing collection of pipes, he had acquired a very well used vintage meerschaum pipe carved in the shape of a hand holding a bunch of grapes. The laundry list of needed repairs was extensive - a good… Continue reading Sour Grapes – Rescuing a Vintage Meerschaum
Meerschaum pipes have long been known for their capacity to be carved into an extraordinary range of shapes and styles, from sleek classic shapes like a Billiard or Bulldog to fanciful smokable sculptures. The pipe on the worktable today provides a rather geometric take on the venerable Egg & Claw shape. As this initial series… Continue reading Cleanup and a New Stem for a Unique Egg & Claw Meerschaum
Over the years, I have developed a generally good sense of the age of a pipe based on its size, shape and finish, among other details. This Peterson Sherlock Holmes meerschaum, however, surprised me. When it arrived on the work table, the pipe was looking far from its best. The stem was heavily oxidized with… Continue reading Restoring a Hard-Ridden 2006 Peterson Sherlock Holmes Meerschaum
The pipe on the bench today was sent to me by a gentleman who has become a regular client of mine over the last year or so. We have been restoring the pipes in his extensive collection batch by batch and just when he thought he was finished, a few loose stummels were discovered at… Continue reading Meerschaum Rescue & Re-Stem
More than a few years ago now I was involved with an unfortunately short-lived local pipe club which held, among other things, a few swap meets where members could trade pipes, tobaccos etc. That is how this rather unloved-looking meerschaum pipe came to live in my box of refurbs-in-waiting. I have pulled the pipe out,… Continue reading Something from Nothing – Creating a Mini Warden from a Junk Meerschaum Stummel
This pipe belongs to a fellow Ontario piper and DadsPipes reader who wrote to me asking what could be done to get this older meerschaum Egg back into his rotation. At first glance, the pipe looked to be in good shape, but a closer inspection revealed that the stem had been damaged at the button… Continue reading Overhauling an Austrian Meerschaum Straight Egg
This medium sized bent meerschaum is the third of five meers from my recent estate lot purchase. It is much smaller than the Egg & Claw meer I wrote about here, but I think many pipers will appreciate its more manageable dimensions. The pipe is carved from a single block of meerschaum in a tulip… Continue reading Quick Cleanup of a Tulip Meerschaum Sitter
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