Hello, everyone, and thanks for your patience while I have been getting settled in the new digs. I'm starting things off with an easy one - a quick tidy-up of a 1970's Brigham Sportsman. There are a fair few of these not-quite-finished vintage Brigham pipes kicking around, but this one is a bit unique for… Continue reading Easing Into Things with a Quick Refresh of an Unusual 1970’s Era Brigham Sportsman
This is the second of two dilapidated Blatter pipes gifted to me by a pipe friend before Christmas. I wrote about the first restoration here. This pipe is somewhat larger in size and, as you will see, the restoration turned out to be similarly larger in scope. Unlike the first Blatter pipe, this one arrived… Continue reading Salvaging a Burnt and Cracked Blatter Select Freehand
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 attractive freehand pipe was sent to me by a client near Kingston, Ontario with the request to clean it up and, if possible, install a 9mm filter system. When it arrived at DadsPipes Central, I brought it to the worktable and made a full inspection. A good-sized freehand, the pipe was in obviously used… Continue reading A New Stem and a 6mm Filter Conversion for a Thomas Grand Luxe Footed Freehand
A collector friend recently dropped off a box of pipes for restoration, a real jumble of briar and meerschaum in various states of repair. Some need only a bit of "spit and polish" to bring them back to fighting form, and others need serious overhaul. This Butz-Choquin pipe fell somewhere in the middle of the… Continue reading Re-Stemming a Butz-Choquin Marigny Deluxe Hand-Made Calabash
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.… Continue reading Repairing Stem and Shank Troubles on a Reg’d No Stanwell Brazilia 21
This Blatter pipe was in pretty good shape when I brought it to the worktable. Fans of large pipes will like this chunky rustic Dublin – it’s a real fistful of briar! Though of average proportion lengthwise, the extra height and width of the bowl rule this pipe out as a clencher unless you’ve got… Continue reading Refreshing a Blatter Montreal Select Oversized Dublin Sitter
Every so often, I receive a pipe for restoration that has been worked on before at some point in its past – sometimes professionally, but more frequently by a well-meaning piper attempting to save a cherished smoking companion. This Bari Pearl is a good example of the latter category. When I brought this bamboo-shanked Bent… Continue reading Repairing an Old Repair on a Bari Pearl 7080 Bamboo Bent Billiard
I was contacted by the owner of this little Clifton Apple to see if I could get the pipe into smoking shape again. I asked the piper to send me the patient and when it arrived I took the following set of pics to record its initial condition. As you can see, the briar stummel… Continue reading Shank Repair and a Refresh for a Clifton 132 Straight Apple
This Falcon pipe was sent to me recently for a bit of a cleanup by a DadsPipes reader. It is, somewhat surprisingly, the first metal smoking pipe I have worked on since beginning my little venture into estate pipe restorations, so I was keen to get at it when it arrived. The design of the… Continue reading Cleaning Up a Falcon FDH Dublin
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