What Have You Found In Your Estate Pipe?
- Thread starter kgill
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Ouch. That one's gonna be a duzy to clean out. I'd be concerned about the crack on that rim. Give it a good ream down to the bare wood. Attack the shank with nylon brushes and isopropanol. I'd sand down and top the rim. Superglue for the crack. You got a job in front of you. Good luck.
Nice! The worst I've found is cobwebs in one. I also got one onetime that was full of tobacco, and someone had actually done the charring light on it! Makes you wonder why they never finished it. I'm actually smoking that pipe right now, it's a Prince Of Whales rusticated straight billiard.
Wow.
I've never found bugs in an estate, but I have found various amounts of cake and well aged and half-consumed tobacco. On occasion I've found well used chalk philtpads in the bottom of an old bowl. I've also had bowls that were so caked up that I couldn't fit my little finger into the bowl.
I think Kash's course of action is a well laid out plan for that pipe.
-- Pat
I've never found bugs in an estate, but I have found various amounts of cake and well aged and half-consumed tobacco. On occasion I've found well used chalk philtpads in the bottom of an old bowl. I've also had bowls that were so caked up that I couldn't fit my little finger into the bowl.
I think Kash's course of action is a well laid out plan for that pipe.
-- Pat
Pat, that's been my experience exactly. I have a very large Denicotea billiard sitting here, just arrived yesterday, with a half-smoked bowl of tobacco in it. What happened? Was the the old man's last breath? Should I put it in a shadow box and not smoke it? Nah... who knows what might be under the crust there? I'm hoping to find a diamond or gold coin some day, but no luck so far. I'll just have to keep buying old pipes, I guess.
I thought I'd gotten some bad ones, but bugs!!!!! My wife wouldn't let another estate pipe in the house if she saw that.
I'd follow Kashmir's advice - he does beautiful work.
I'd follow Kashmir's advice - he does beautiful work.
If anything would dissuade someone from estate pipes, this photo might do it -- a big crack in the rim, a vast
crunchy uneven cake, and a graveyard bug to boot. I know there's a reason I feel a thrill and chill down my spine
when I see an estate pipe is "unsmoked." Most estate pipes are in far better repair than this one, and many have
been professionally sanitized and restored. But in my own case, I am happy with my 30 and 40 year old one-owner
estate pipes that have never met a reamer and likely never will.
crunchy uneven cake, and a graveyard bug to boot. I know there's a reason I feel a thrill and chill down my spine
when I see an estate pipe is "unsmoked." Most estate pipes are in far better repair than this one, and many have
been professionally sanitized and restored. But in my own case, I am happy with my 30 and 40 year old one-owner
estate pipes that have never met a reamer and likely never will.
EEWWW! Unless it has semtimental value I'd pitch it. Bugs are nasty and I wonder how many could be in the stem. 8O
Bought an Edwards Skipper bent bulldog that had cobwebs, and what looked like a toothpick jammed in the air passage. Must have had a few layers of grime on the outside as well. Took about two hours to clear the airway w/o resorting to a drill, and several repeat buffings to clean the stummel and stem.
It was worth the effort, because it's a fine smoking pipe.
It was worth the effort, because it's a fine smoking pipe.
+++ eibhir.
Some things are just meant to be recycled. Unless its got sentimental value, or it's a family heirloom, I'd toss it. There's just too many damn fine estate pipes out there to be had for under $50 to try to restore a badly cracked bowl. If you do go ahead, remove all cake down to bare wood. Boil strummel in boiling water for an hour. Replace water several times. Soak overnight in tub of alcohol. Up to a week OK. Change alcohol as it undergoes discoloration. Rub down outside thoroughly with alcohol wipes. Use toothbrush to clean the cracks thoroughly. Clean inside shank with nylon brushes, Qtips and cleaner soaked in alcohol. Dry for a week. Get ypursef three C clamps. Put bits of sponge on clamps. Fill cracks in with superglue. Clamp symmetrically on all sides using three clamps. Till cracks close. Do this before glue as a test, just to make sure cracks seal. If they don't soak in water a couple week, briefly dry cracks and re clamp. Should close now. Then for real apply glue. It's OK if glue oozes out. You'll sand down and re-stain the whole thing later. If this sounds like a lot of work - it is. But worth it of the pipe has MEANING to you or a loved one or a customer. Your call.
Some things are just meant to be recycled. Unless its got sentimental value, or it's a family heirloom, I'd toss it. There's just too many damn fine estate pipes out there to be had for under $50 to try to restore a badly cracked bowl. If you do go ahead, remove all cake down to bare wood. Boil strummel in boiling water for an hour. Replace water several times. Soak overnight in tub of alcohol. Up to a week OK. Change alcohol as it undergoes discoloration. Rub down outside thoroughly with alcohol wipes. Use toothbrush to clean the cracks thoroughly. Clean inside shank with nylon brushes, Qtips and cleaner soaked in alcohol. Dry for a week. Get ypursef three C clamps. Put bits of sponge on clamps. Fill cracks in with superglue. Clamp symmetrically on all sides using three clamps. Till cracks close. Do this before glue as a test, just to make sure cracks seal. If they don't soak in water a couple week, briefly dry cracks and re clamp. Should close now. Then for real apply glue. It's OK if glue oozes out. You'll sand down and re-stain the whole thing later. If this sounds like a lot of work - it is. But worth it of the pipe has MEANING to you or a loved one or a customer. Your call.
Things i have found, solid cake all the way up to a half inch under the rim. Note even a hole in the middle. My guess was cheap goopy tobacco until it was nearly sealed and then gravity filling in the rest after it sat. Pipe cleaners stuck in tar, cobwebs, pieces of stingers or stingers that came off the stem, ancient mold. Oh and here is a suggestion for fixing the bowl. I once saw a dunhill on ebay that had a silver band around the bowl about 2/3rds of the way up, and a crack in the bowl. It was obviously an aftermarket band, now that is sentimental value.
http://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/can-a-cracked-bowl-be-repaired-taking-a-lesson-from-gan-barbers-work/
http://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/can-a-cracked-bowl-be-repaired-taking-a-lesson-from-gan-barbers-work/
I wouldn't even mess with that pipe. Not because of the bug, but because repairing that crack probably won't be a one time ordeal. I had a lot of six that I ended up only keeping four of, two of which are still in a bag in my pipe cleaning supply cabinet. I had to toss two because they were dropped so many times and the stems were practically chewed shut, couldn't even get a pipe cleaner into them.
Some things just aren't worth your time. I drew the line on those two pipes early.
Some things just aren't worth your time. I drew the line on those two pipes early.
On a related note, I recently bought an Edgeworth tin to use as a prop for my pipe photography. When it arrived, I found this small metal tag rattling around inside.
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