Pipe Essays, Uncategorized

The Completely Unofficial Brigham Pipes Shape Chart v0.1 Beta Release

PLEASE NOTE: The latest, most complete version (v3.0) of the Brigham Shape Chart can be found in my book, Brigham Pipes - A Century of Canadian Briar , and includes more pipe shapes and images than ever before.  ***** Here it is, folks - the first draft of the Brigham Pipes Shape Chart! Note that… Continue reading The Completely Unofficial Brigham Pipes Shape Chart v0.1 Beta Release

Restorations, Uncategorized

Rehabilitating a Brigham Executive 604 Large Billiard with a Seized Stem

I’ve mentioned in an earlier post that Brigham offered the ever-popular Straight Billiard shape in several sizes and considered them from the start as separate product offerings rather than variations on a theme. Thus there are three shape numbers for a Brigham Billiard – 02 for a small pipe , 03 for a medium pipe,… Continue reading Rehabilitating a Brigham Executive 604 Large Billiard with a Seized Stem

Restorations, Uncategorized

Shank Rescue on a 1990’s Era Brigham 424 Bent Billiard

I have worked on a lot of Brigham pipes over the last year, and posted most of them here on the DadsPipes blog. I’m trying to maintain some sort of balance to my regular posts as to avoid becoming “the Brigham blog”, but I do love them and tend to buy them for myself whenever… Continue reading Shank Rescue on a 1990’s Era Brigham 424 Bent Billiard

Restorations, Uncategorized

Rebuilding a Stem for a 1960’s Brigham 419 Club

I’ve wanted to add a Brigham Club pipe to my collection for some time, so when I spotted this 4 Dot version on eBay recently, I knew I’d be bidding, despite the pipe’s obvious shortcomings. The auction listing clearly showed one major problem – the lower portion of the stem’s bite/button area was missing a… Continue reading Rebuilding a Stem for a 1960’s Brigham 419 Club

Restorations, Uncategorized

A Bevy of Brighams IV – Repairing Heat Fissures in a 1980’s Brigham 418 Pear

The Brigham Shape 18 Pear is quickly becoming one of my favourites; my very first pipe purchase back in university was a 2 Dot Pear, and it’s still in my rack and regular rotation. I’ve since added a 118, the restoration of which I’ve written about here, and now this 4-Dot version. The pipe arrived… Continue reading A Bevy of Brighams IV – Repairing Heat Fissures in a 1980’s Brigham 418 Pear

Restorations, Uncategorized

A Bevy of Brighams Part III – A Pair of Unsmoked 3 Dot Sportsman Pipes

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

Pipe Essays, Uncategorized

Updating a Few Posts

Hi everyone, Just a quick note to let you know that I've been busy updating the content of a couple of my older posts based on information I recently received from Daniel More, President of Brigham Enterprises Inc. Daniel has been with Brigham since the 1980's and was kind enough to share some of his first-hand… Continue reading Updating a Few Posts

Restorations, Uncategorized

A Bevy of Brighams – Part II: Refreshing a Brigham 503 Billiard

This Brigham 503 Billiard is the second pipe I worked on from the lot of seven 1980’s vintage Brigham pipes I purchased before Christmas. Unlike the Brigham 562 Student pipe I wrote about previously, which featured a mix of smooth and rusticated finishes, this Billiard is fully smooth with a contrast stain that makes full… Continue reading A Bevy of Brighams – Part II: Refreshing a Brigham 503 Billiard

Restorations, Uncategorized

A Bevy of Brighams Part I

Anyone who has glanced at this site knows I am a long-standing fan of Brigham pipes, especially those made in Toronto, Canada before production moved to Italy and France after 2001. Knowing my pipe predilections, then, it will not be surprising to anyone that when I had the opportunity to acquire a small collection of… Continue reading A Bevy of Brighams Part I

Restorations, Uncategorized

Restoring a Patent Era Brigham Executive Statesman

I could not pass up the opportunity to add this Brigham Statesman to my collection. Despite its flaws, including a battered rim and a large bite-through in the lower bit, the pipe was in decent vintage shape and was certainly restorable. Besides, I didn’t have the “bent stacked billiard” Statesman shape in the collection, so… Continue reading Restoring a Patent Era Brigham Executive Statesman