This pipe was sent to me by a friend in Calgary, Alberta for a bit of attention. The owner pointed out that the chamber floor was over-reamed, leaving the draft hole above the bottom of the bowl. I was also asked to look at the stem and give my opinion on what was going on… Continue reading Reviving a Chunky Carved Roxborough Genuine Briar Billiard
Some time ago now, I acquired a box of about a dozen estate pipes in various states of disrepair. Among these wounded soldiers was this interesting square-shanked Brigham pipe. When I brought the pipe to my worktable, I could see that, if it could speak, this Brigham would have had stories to tell. The stem… Continue reading Reviving a Roughly Used 1990’s Vintage Brigham Square-Shank 273
This Brigham 4-Dot was a surprise gift from my daughter, who came across it at a local antique fair. She got a good price on it due to its rather rough condition, which she figured I could remedy without too much trouble. I brought the pipe to the worktable to assess the scope of the… Continue reading Bowl and Stem Repairs for a Brigham 489 Bent Acorn
Black pipes present the pipe restorer with a slightly different set of challenges than those faced when refurbishing a briar finished with the more common “woody” brown and red stains. The vast majority of black pipes to come across my worktable have been of the “opera pipe” style, finished with an opaque black or “ebony”… Continue reading Dealing with the Particular Challenges of Restoring a Black Pipe
This Peterson Pot came to me in a box of assorted estate pipes I purchased quite some time ago. I must admit that the poor old thing languished in that box for longer than I care to admit, but at the time I was caught up in the Brigham Shape Chart project, so a lot… Continue reading Rescuing a Pre-Republic Peterson K&P Dublin Sterling Mounted 207 Pot
I pulled this little Squashed Tomato stummel from my box and decided it would be the focus of my next restoration. Though it measures a more or less standard 1.5 inches wide, the bowl is only 1.25 inches tall, with a proportionally small 5/8” chamber bore. The stummel came to me without a stem and… Continue reading An Autumn Makeover for a Darvill Squashed Tomato
I acquired this pipe as part of a mixed box of estate pipes I picked up a few months ago. The large Billiard now on my worktable stood out from the lot, partly due to its size – the bowl is large, at 1.5” wide and 2” tall, with a 7/8” bore – and partly… Continue reading Reclaiming a Chapuis-Comoy Royal Coachman 182 Billiard
These two Brigham Sportsman pipes are the 4th and 5th of the seven Brigham pipes I purchased as a lot back before Christmas. For those unfamiliar with this series, the Sportsman pipes were roughly shaped, semi-finished and sold each year at the Toronto Sportsman’s Show as rugged, rough-and-ready pipes suitable for bringing along to the… Continue reading A Bevy of Brighams Part III – A Pair of Unsmoked 3 Dot Sportsman Pipes
My personal pipe preferences, notwithstanding the handful of Danish-style freehand pipes in my collection, tend toward classic, English shapes. This ROPP Virgin Deluxe, though battered and bruised in the eBay listing, had just the classic charm that I can’t seem to ignore, which is a bit ironic given its French heritage. When the pipe arrived… Continue reading A Diamond in the Rough – Restoring a Well-Smoked ROPP Virgin Deluxe
This is a fun little pipe that has been hanging around my worktable for some time. It’s a Svendborg Hand Made Chin-Hanger, likely dating to the latter half of the company’s production in the 1980’s. Pipephil.eu gives this brief summary of the firm: Brand founded in 1970s by Henrik Jørgensen, Poul Ilsted and Tao Nielsen. They bought an old… Continue reading Reviving a Svendborg Hand Made Chin Hanger
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