A lot of estate pipes require a fair amount of effort and energy to move from Thrift Store Decoration to Favourite Smoker or Prime Collectible. Every now and again, though, you stumble across one that seems to clean itself as the restoration work goes so smoothly. This Stanwell Bamboo was just such a pipe for… Continue reading Quick Cleanup of a Stanwell Hand Cut Bamboo Sitter
As the saying goes, “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.” I guess the same could be said for old pipes – they too are called to action, do their jobs uncomplainingly and are required to put up with a lot more BS than the average civilian. I suppose both also like to stand… Continue reading Old Pipes, Like Old Soldiers, Carry Their Scars with Pride – Rehabilitating a Well-Used Savinelli Nonpareil 9107
I found this somewhat battered meerschaum billiard at a local antique sale recently. It’s unmarked, so I can’t even begin to guess at who made it, but the Bakelite stem with orifice style opening puts the year of production somewhere between 1907 (the year Bakelite was invented) and the late 1920’s when orific stems were… Continue reading Undue Haste Leads to Shank Repair on an Old Meerschaum Billiard
I picked up this Danish pipe on a recent pipe foraging trip to a local antique fair. It was jumbled in with a few other pipes, but it looked to be in decent shape so I added it to my bag. I had my first opportunity to examine the pipe closely when I got it… Continue reading Checkmate – a Celius Chess Series Root Bishop 22
I purchased the estate pipe collection I’ve dubbed The Danish Lot last Spring, and have featured many of the fine pipes from that group here on DadsPipes. The vendors have stayed in touch, commenting now and again on several restorations and offering little details about the pipes and their late Uncle, the former owner. I… Continue reading Pinch Me – Another Stanwell Collectors Piece Pickaxe!
There is still a handful of pipes from the Danish Lot I purchased last Spring waiting for my attention. We’ve already seen one example of a Stanwell Brazilia from this estate collection; here’s the second of three pipes from this series I’ll be restoring. This Brazilia is a Shape 85 Bent Billiard with a few more years… Continue reading Resuscitating a Stanwell Reg’d No. Brazilia 85 Bent Billiard with a Broken Horn
I was presented with this gift by fellow piper and blogger David Wilson of Home Grown Hobbies at the last pipe club meeting a few weeks ago. He had found this Brigham stummel at an antique shop near him and thought I could do something with it. The semi-finished briar is a Brigham Sportsman circa… Continue reading Re-Stemming an Unsmoked 1980’s Brigham Sportsman Author
By all accounts, the Danish Fancy pipe boom of the late 1960s and 1970s caught the great English pipe house of Dunhill unprepared. Dunhill was unable to produce the new Freehand shapes in-house, so if the firm was to capitalize on the surging demand for Danish pipes, it would have to look elsewhere. The answer came… Continue reading In Praise of International Cooperation – Cleaning Up a Large Harcourt Grade D Freehand by Preben Holm for Dunhill
I came across this Chacom 296 Canadian pipe at a local antique market, and though it was in rough shape, it had a few things going for it in my mind. First was the unique leather pipe case it came in that featured a snap closure just like Grandma’s change purse. The case is unmarked,… Continue reading Restoring a Cracked Chacom 296 Canadian
I’ve been sitting on this restoration for a while, mainly because it took some time for me to come to grips with the pipe’s pedigree. The pipe in question is a Stanwell Collectors Piece, a special series of pipes issued during the company’s “Regd. No.” era (roughly 1948 – 1970) and apparently quite rare in… Continue reading A Rare Find – An Early Ivarsson Pickaxe Stanwell Collectors Piece
