Being the sucker I am for attempting difficult restorations of debatable worth, I just couldn't resist this pipe. It's an old Comoy Grand Slam made, as near as I can tell, between 1933 and 1945. Any experts feel free to correct me if this is wrong. The pipe was partly in good condition, no chatter, but mostly in bad condition, with two one inch long vertical cracks in the bowl that went all the way through. It was cheap enough that I felt obligated to try to rescue it.
So long story short, with the use of a few different glues and wood putty, and a hose clamp, I managed to get the bowl whole again. Yes you can see some of the cracks yet, and I could have hidden them better with a darker stain, but it doesn't bother me too much as is. Mixed up some pipe mud slurry with a little rum and a drop of honey to make it a little sticky and coated the inside of the bowl to cover the crack repair, and start a cake. These pipes come with one of the weirder stingers I've seen. The stem was stuck in a partially out position, but after an hour in the freezer it came out, but only so far. I didn't know what exactly I was dealing with but I knew the stinger was hung up. So I half filled the bowl with alcohol and let it set over night. It finally worked free, but was a disgusting mess. It has two leather washers on the end and numerous holes of sorts, and I have no idea what it was supposed to accomplish, but I'm sure if I looked up the patent I'd find out. I managed to unscrew it from the stem and will save it as a curiosity. The little bar on the top of the stem was missing, and looking online it was said the the early Grand Slam pipes had a white and turquoise bar on the stem. The pics that I saw the blue looked more gray than blue, so I made mine a real turquoise color. The silver band looks original to the pipe as I see no cracks in the shank, and it's rather thick and well fitted. Then again I may be wrong.
So I guess all that's left to do is load it up and smoke it and see if it cracks open again...
Before:
After:
So long story short, with the use of a few different glues and wood putty, and a hose clamp, I managed to get the bowl whole again. Yes you can see some of the cracks yet, and I could have hidden them better with a darker stain, but it doesn't bother me too much as is. Mixed up some pipe mud slurry with a little rum and a drop of honey to make it a little sticky and coated the inside of the bowl to cover the crack repair, and start a cake. These pipes come with one of the weirder stingers I've seen. The stem was stuck in a partially out position, but after an hour in the freezer it came out, but only so far. I didn't know what exactly I was dealing with but I knew the stinger was hung up. So I half filled the bowl with alcohol and let it set over night. It finally worked free, but was a disgusting mess. It has two leather washers on the end and numerous holes of sorts, and I have no idea what it was supposed to accomplish, but I'm sure if I looked up the patent I'd find out. I managed to unscrew it from the stem and will save it as a curiosity. The little bar on the top of the stem was missing, and looking online it was said the the early Grand Slam pipes had a white and turquoise bar on the stem. The pics that I saw the blue looked more gray than blue, so I made mine a real turquoise color. The silver band looks original to the pipe as I see no cracks in the shank, and it's rather thick and well fitted. Then again I may be wrong.
So I guess all that's left to do is load it up and smoke it and see if it cracks open again...
Before:
After: