I had a bit of work done in the garage (aka my workshop) recently, including the installation of a most effective heater to prevent my pipes, tools and supplies from freezing in these cold winter months. While I was tidying up afterwards, I decided to sift through my boxes of pipes waiting to be restored. At the bottom of one box I found this Brigham … Continue reading Resurrecting a Forlorn 1990’s Brigham 241
Hi folks. I’ve got another Brigham restoration for you today, this time a 1960’s 5-Dot Shape 76 Tulip. I was lucky enough to acquire this briar in a box of assorted pipes a while back but it’s been stuck at the bottom of my refurb box for a while. In comparison to the 1990’s Brigham Chunky Bent Brandy 536 I wrote up recently, this Tulip … Continue reading Reviving a Slightly Downtrodden Post-Patent Era Brigham 576 Tulip
For many Billiard lovers, there is no pipe quite as billiard-y as an English Billiard, and this Comoy’s Guildhall 28 is a prime example of English pipemakers’ mastery of this classic pipe shape. The Comoy’s Shape Chart published on Pipedia.org identifies the Shape 28 as a “Billiard, Straight, Medium”. In practice, this translates to a pipe 5-1/2″ long with a 1-3/4″ tall by 1-1/4″ wide … Continue reading Freshening a Pre-Cadogan Comoy’s Guildhall 28 Billiard
I’ve worked on several Stanwell Brazilia series pipes over the years. The series name and inherent character come from the shank extensions made of, in the early days, genuine Brazilian cattle horn or, more recently, of faux horn made of acrylic. Of the two versions, I prefer the look and feel of the genuine horn. It was just such an early Brazilia pipe that landed … Continue reading Repairing Stem and Shank Troubles on a Reg’d No Stanwell Brazilia 21
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 work ahead. The stummel was quite dirty and greasy feeling, … Continue reading Bowl and Stem Repairs for a Brigham 489 Bent Acorn
This pipe was sent to me for repairs recently. At first glance the Peterson Aran 50S Rustic Poker on my worktable looked to be in pretty good shape – the stem had a few tooth dents, but was not oxidized, and the stummel was clean. Even the deeply rusticated rim was free of lava deposits. On the smooth bottom of the bowl, the pipe is … Continue reading An Internal Shank Repair for a Peterson Aran 50S Rustic Poker
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” stain (or sometimes paint) covered with a high-gloss topcoat. Over … Continue reading Dealing with the Particular Challenges of Restoring a Black Pipe
