Well, the Ebay gods have smiled on me yet again. I enjoy my James Upshall Rhodesian, S-grade so much I kept an eye out for an estate P-grade. Last week, one showed up on Ebay, complete with some fuzzy pictures and not much other information. The seller confirmed there were no bite marks on the stem, so I took a shot and won the bid at $76 shipped. I figured if it wasn't in decent shape, it would probably be a good smoker.
This was the Ebay picure:
The seller must have over-nighted the pipe from Washington state to Maryland and it arrived today. I was very pleased to see the pipe appeared to have been shown some care. The stem was very oxidized, but the it was indeed bite mark free and the logo stamp was perfect. The bowl had a very light thin cake and the top was free of build-up. It has a few bumps, but nothing significant. Oh yeah, it is huge. It has no size stamp but it has to be a 6 if not an XL. A weigh confirms that and it comes in at a whopping 80 grams. No clencher for sure, but I like an occasional large pipe. It's slightly larger than my 4K Castello in overall size.
I reamed the bowl slightly and gave it an Everclear/sea salt soak for a few hours, but nothing was really pulled. Some bristle stem cleaners and Everclear also didn't yield much. Someone did show this pipe some smoking care. I started in on the stem while the bowl was soaking. I gave it the usual wet sand at 1000>1500>2000 grit, than the final three grades of Micromesh. A final polish on the wheel with some plastic polish and carnuba wax.
I buffed the briar slightly with some white diamond on a cloth wheel, than with some carnuba wax, followed by a final hand polish with Paragon.
I was able to get in a quick (well, 45 minute..) smoke with some Boswells Burley, my break-in tobacco. Wow, what a smoker from the word go. I was a little worried about the draft hole, as it is just under 5/32" but the draw and smoke is magnificent. It rivals my Sea Rock for sure. I'm taking it with me to the NYC pipe club meeting tomorrow and look forward to trying some of my favorites.
Here's some more pictures from the refurb:
Before:
And after:
In contrast with my Sea Rock:
My Pipes:
