GBD, BBB, PAD

I really wanted a small blasted Dublin. I ended up picking these up on eBay the other day as a 2-pipe lot for less than I use to pay for a day's supply of cigs. GBD International 133. BBB Own Make Thorneycroft 507. I haven't been able to peg down a dating range for either. I gather that Internationals were squarely in the middle of the GBD grades, and Thorneycroft was the lowest BBB grade. Other than that, I know nothing about these two pipes. I'm just getting started on the cleanup, but they're coming along nicely. I can already tell that the stain on the GBD is really going to pop once I get done. I'm undecided on how much rim lava I'm going to take off the BBB until I get a feel for how it smokes. If I like smoking it and decide to keep it, I'm going to leave the lava as a protective layer. It's hard as a damn rock even after water rinses and the alcohol and cotton balls treatment. Any suggestions on what to do with the rim on the GBD would be much appreciated. So far, I've tried spit, brushes, cloths, paper towels, oil soap, and elbow grease. Maybe it's just supposed to be black and cruddy?
Before:


During:


GBD rim:

Thanks, guys! I was just going off what I read on pipedia and rebornpipes. Here's a pic of the nomenclature on the BBB and a closeup of the bowl - really loving that blast already.


Sorry for the wonky pic orientation - I'm working on it.
Edit: The BBB has a removable stinger, in case that helps with dating.

Thank you, gents. It's nice to know that I lucked into such a nice piece with that BBB. The first smokes in both pipes were a little rough, as is to be expected, but very promising - perfect draw for my tastes, incredibly comfy stems, and light as a feather. And it sure doesn't hurt that I love the looks too.

They will reward time spent burnishing them for the next fifty years.

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Oh, God help me if I live that long!

you may be right on the GBD being intended that way

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Well, whatever that black stuff is, it ain't coming off, so that's the way it's going to be as long as I've got it. I like the look, too, and it'll be nice not having to fret about rim-darkening - just stuff it to overflowing and put a lighter on it when it's breezy out.

I have a soft spot for those old British pipes and would like to own a few more.

Me too - if you mean a few dozen more! Seriously, though, at the bottom end of the market, old Britwood offers by far the most bang for the buck (cobs excepted, naturally) in my limited experience. Just requires some serendipity and willingness to put in a little work on cleaning them up. I've found several such pipes in the sub-20-dollar range that, once revived, smoke circles around store-bought pipes that I paid 6-7 times more for. My current favorite is a 16-dollar Willmer I snagged from a seller who listed it as a "Wilmer" (I think he does all right selling old Caminettos for astronomical sums, so I didn't point out the mistake).

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