There's been a lot of talk lately on the forums about pipes of our father's, grandfather's, and great grandfather's. I find this personal history and connection to pipe smoking that some of us have interesting subject matter. I can only hope that someday my children, grandchildren and other relatives feel some connection to me in this way.
But the outcome of these posts here led me to find a photo of my maternal grandfather who died before I was born, showing him smoking a pipe. I posted the pic on another thread here, and was wondering what kind of pipe it was. All I knew from the early 1940s B&W photo was that it was a billiard with a dark smooth bowl, and had a light colored stem with a small metal band. So the search was on! I didn't feel like looking for something expensive as I don't feel he was the type to spend a lot on a pipe, and I'm not either.
The first picture is of the one that I felt fit the bill best, but I have no idea what it is, as it's only stamped Artly, Virgin Briar, and nothing else. Can't find anything online about this name, but I did find a pic of an old Yello-Bole pipe that has a stem that looks to be identical, but that pipe has a yellow ring on the shank. The button on my pipe was pretty much chewed off, so in creating a new button it lightened up the yellow of the bit. Neat little black dot on the stem top. (fellowship of the black spot anyone?) I did some cleaning and refinishing to remove some of the old varnish left on it, and I removed the little piece of broken off stinger from the tenon. The stem had an aluminum band and tenon that looks to be one piece, but it fit nicely in the shank. The pipe smokes just fine and I like the looks of it as it does remind me of my grandfather's from the photo.
The problem is that I was watching two other pipes that I knew weren't really the correct type, but they still looked interesting. They were being sold together with an opening bid of $7.50, and so I placed a low bid just in case. No one else bid on them! So now I had two more pipes that looked similar but not exactly what I was looking for. Oh well, more fun, right?
The first is a nice Yello_Bole Imperial, I guess from before 1955, with the KBB in the clover and some fairly nice grain, and what? no fills! I don't know what the stem was made from but when I started to clean it with Iso alcohol it got real slippery and sticky like it was starting to dissolve. Switched to vodka but it was only a little better, still I managed to get it cleaned on the inside. Had some chatter and one medium bite mark that I had to fill a little and do some sanding. Again 60% of the pipe still had old varnish on it so it had to come off, and then lightly sanded, polished and waxed. The tobacco staining seemed to be fairly permanent on the inside of the stem but there was a little marbling to the color, so it kind of blends in. I have no idea what that stem was made from that it would react to alcohol like that. It's got to be something other than vulcanite, lucite, plastic, or nylon.
The other pipe include in the auction is a little Yello_Bole Thorn, and that is all that's stamped on the pipe except for a faded T in a circle on the stem. Not a lot of info on these pipes, but I figured they might have been make about the same time that the Kaywoodie Thorn pipes were made. Any guesses? Nice deep blast on most of the bowl, but again that stupid partial varnish to remove. It cleaned up nicely, and the white stem has some light coloration in it (including the tobacco staining) that makes it look a little like a horn stem. It did appear to be nylon and would not take a high polish for some reason, but then it makes it look more like horn. One other thing, both these pipes have short little scoop type stingers on them that remove easily, but after cleaning them up, I found that you could pass a pipe cleaner through from button to bowl right through the little slot in the stinger. Never seen that before! As much as I dislike stingers, I'll probably have to try smoking these with the stinger in place.
But the outcome of these posts here led me to find a photo of my maternal grandfather who died before I was born, showing him smoking a pipe. I posted the pic on another thread here, and was wondering what kind of pipe it was. All I knew from the early 1940s B&W photo was that it was a billiard with a dark smooth bowl, and had a light colored stem with a small metal band. So the search was on! I didn't feel like looking for something expensive as I don't feel he was the type to spend a lot on a pipe, and I'm not either.
The first picture is of the one that I felt fit the bill best, but I have no idea what it is, as it's only stamped Artly, Virgin Briar, and nothing else. Can't find anything online about this name, but I did find a pic of an old Yello-Bole pipe that has a stem that looks to be identical, but that pipe has a yellow ring on the shank. The button on my pipe was pretty much chewed off, so in creating a new button it lightened up the yellow of the bit. Neat little black dot on the stem top. (fellowship of the black spot anyone?) I did some cleaning and refinishing to remove some of the old varnish left on it, and I removed the little piece of broken off stinger from the tenon. The stem had an aluminum band and tenon that looks to be one piece, but it fit nicely in the shank. The pipe smokes just fine and I like the looks of it as it does remind me of my grandfather's from the photo.
The problem is that I was watching two other pipes that I knew weren't really the correct type, but they still looked interesting. They were being sold together with an opening bid of $7.50, and so I placed a low bid just in case. No one else bid on them! So now I had two more pipes that looked similar but not exactly what I was looking for. Oh well, more fun, right?
The first is a nice Yello_Bole Imperial, I guess from before 1955, with the KBB in the clover and some fairly nice grain, and what? no fills! I don't know what the stem was made from but when I started to clean it with Iso alcohol it got real slippery and sticky like it was starting to dissolve. Switched to vodka but it was only a little better, still I managed to get it cleaned on the inside. Had some chatter and one medium bite mark that I had to fill a little and do some sanding. Again 60% of the pipe still had old varnish on it so it had to come off, and then lightly sanded, polished and waxed. The tobacco staining seemed to be fairly permanent on the inside of the stem but there was a little marbling to the color, so it kind of blends in. I have no idea what that stem was made from that it would react to alcohol like that. It's got to be something other than vulcanite, lucite, plastic, or nylon.
The other pipe include in the auction is a little Yello_Bole Thorn, and that is all that's stamped on the pipe except for a faded T in a circle on the stem. Not a lot of info on these pipes, but I figured they might have been make about the same time that the Kaywoodie Thorn pipes were made. Any guesses? Nice deep blast on most of the bowl, but again that stupid partial varnish to remove. It cleaned up nicely, and the white stem has some light coloration in it (including the tobacco staining) that makes it look a little like a horn stem. It did appear to be nylon and would not take a high polish for some reason, but then it makes it look more like horn. One other thing, both these pipes have short little scoop type stingers on them that remove easily, but after cleaning them up, I found that you could pass a pipe cleaner through from button to bowl right through the little slot in the stinger. Never seen that before! As much as I dislike stingers, I'll probably have to try smoking these with the stinger in place.
