This pipe arrived at the workshop recently, sent in from a pipe smoker in the Prairies for a bit of TLC. The subject is a figural meerschaum in the shape of a Sultan’s head. The obvious issue was the broken Bakelite stem, which had snapped off near the shank. Less obvious before a closer examination…
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Lockdowns, closures and other by-products of the COVID pandemic have revived (for some) or reintroduced (for others) the “Mend and Make Do” attitude prevalent among the British during World War II. Purchases of new things – cars, clothing, home improvement projects, etc – have been delayed or given up altogether as people tighten their proverbial…
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This meerschaum Bent Billiard came in to the shop for a new stem, part of the same batch of pipes as the Nording freehand I wrote about last week. If you have read that post, the condition of this pipe when it arrived won’t be much of a surprise. As this series of pics shows,…
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This French-made Jeantet leather-clad Scoop came to me in an estate lot I bought last summer. At first glance the pipe appeared to be in good shape, requiring only a light cleaning to make it ready for a new pipe steward. First glances, however, are sometimes not as accurate as we would like. This series…
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It’s been a while since I worked on a pipe from my own box of refurbs-in-waiting, so today when I found myself temporarily in between other jobs, I dug through my pile of estate pipes and pulled out this 1990s vintage Brigham 303 Billiard. As you can see from this first series of pictures, the…
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I’ve been doing a number of simpler estate pipe cleanups lately, so I guess that means it’s time for a more in-depth project. Today I’m dealing with the last of three Aldo Velani pipes recently acquired as part of an estate lot, this one an Executive series 292 Bent Apple. Aldo Velani pipes are what…
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I was temporarily between projects the other day so I dug down to the bottom of my refurb box and came out with an old, well worn Canadian stummel. I brought it to the table and snapped this series of pics. Judging by the cleanliness of the chamber, I’ll suggest that this stummel was never…
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This restoration was fairly simple – just what I was looking for after tackling a run of trickier repairs. This Trypis pipe hit the worktable in fairly good estate condition. The rim was hidden under a coat of lava but looked to be in decent shape otherwise. The stem was a bit oxidized and the…
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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…
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I found this Peterson meerschaum pipe during a recent visit to an antiques mall about an hour’s drive from my house. I hear stories of antique shops seemingly overflowing with estate pipes, but in my neck of the woods, the pipe hunt is often more of a feast-or-famine game. Many times I don’t come across…
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