Happy New Year, everyone! This post is deliberately going live after the holidays to avoid spoiling the Christmas surprise for one lucky piper. I was contacted by a lady who was on the hunt for a few vintage Brigham estate pipes to present to her partner as a Christmas gift. Fortuitously, I had a few… Continue reading Reviving a 1990’s Brigham 123 Bent Billiard in time for the Holidays
Over the past few months I've received several emails from readers asking about the specific products I use for my repairs and restorations, so I thought I'd write up a quick post on the subject. Most of the questions deal with adhesives, so I'll start there. Happily, all of these products can be found at… Continue reading Which Products and Why – Adhesives & Abrasives for Pipe Restoration
After working on a few pipes for friends, I decided to pull one of my own out of the refurb box! This 5-Dot Brigham bent brandy is an unusual piece for several reasons. It's the first example of a Shape 36 I have come across, which is always exciting for me, and the shape itself… Continue reading Restoring an Unusual 1990’s Era Chunky 5-Dot Brigham Bent Brandy 36
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
I'm excited to post this blog entry today as it marks the addition of a new shape to my collection of vintage Brigham pipes. Besides satisfying my "gotta get 'em all" fixation, this pipe also hits all the collector's marks for age, condition and grade. This time I'm working on a Patent Era (1938-1955) Brigham… Continue reading Adding a Patent Era Brigham 478 Townsman to the Collection
Happy New Year, everyone! I thought I’d start the 2018 posts with a nice quick cleanup of a 1980’s-vintage Brigham 4-Dot Calabriar. Long a staple shape in the Brigham Pipes catalog, the Calabriar is a briar pipe carved in a full-bent Calabash shape. This example, sporting a bevelled rim, differs slightly from the classic Calabriar… Continue reading An Easy Restoration to Start the New Year: Renewing a Brigham 4-Dot Calabriar
Back in July 2017 I posted the refurbishment of a Brigham 341 Bent Acorn pipe. Here now is its big brother, a Shape 42 Bent Acorn, this time in a 4-Dot grade. The Shape 42 sports a full-on oval shank and a taller bowl than its Shape 41 sibling, and despite the two pipes being… Continue reading Tidying Up a Brigham 442 Oval Shank Bent Acorn
This is another of the pipes sent to me from Iqaluit for refurbishment. I don’t how the owner sources such consistently interesting Blatter estate pipes, but source them he does! This particular Blatter is a BIG rustic Author pipe, a real fistful of briar with a large chamber and thick walls. The shank looks positively… Continue reading Stem Work on an Oversized Blatter Bros Make Selected Rustic Author
This is an interesting Peterson pipe sent to me for refurbishment by a DadsPipe reader. The pipe is a Shamrock 9BC Chubby Bent Billiard that certainly exemplifies Peterson’s tendency towards stout shapes. According to Mark Irwin’s excellent article on Peterson Pipe Notes, the 9 shape has been in the Peterson catalog since 1896 and has… Continue reading Reviving a Pre-Republic Peterson Shamrock 9BC Chubby Bent Billiard
A DadsPipes reader contacted me a little while ago to ask about a Brigham pipe he’d picked up at a local antique shop. Initially he had planned to clean up the pipe himself, but after running into possible burnout problems, he decided to send the pipe my way for an opinion. I was sent these… Continue reading Scorched Briar and Unique Stamping Reveal a Part of Brigham Pipe History
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