1920's City De Luxe 'The Collegian' gentle refurb with pics.

[mawnansmiff]

Good afternoon folks, I thought I would share one of my pipe refurbs that I finished recently. The pipe is a City De Luxe 'The Collegian' panelled pipe from the 1920's. I only know the rough date as some owner in the past had (crudely) scratched the pipe on one of the shank flanks with the word 'DAD' and on the opposite flank had scratched '1927'. The pipe also sports an orific button which I am told was the way things were back then.
At just over 12 1/2 cm long it is a pretty small pipe though it is a great smoker, I have had a good 30 minute smoke from it on several occasions.
As can be seen in the before pictures, the pipe was in a pretty sorry state when it arrived here, it even had the remnants of the previous smoker's favourite blend still in the bowl! The rim was pretty well singed and the stem well oxidized with some serious tooth marks.
The stem was given a soak in Oxyclean (the first time I ever used the stuff, prior to that I used bleach) and the bowl was reamed then the entire stummel wiped over with an alcohol soaked rag to remove decades worth of muck and grime. Then it was onto the sanding starting with 600 grit and working my way up to 3000 grit. I have to say I was rather worried I might lose the shape of the pipe, particularly the outline of the panels but I needn't have worried, it worked out fine. The stampings were pretty faint to begin with so I was well careful when it came to sanding them. After sanding it was twice stained with Rustin's (alcohol based) dark teak, each coat flamed. After drying it was waxed with Kiwi neutral shoe polish (which contains carnauba wax) and hand buffed with a micro fibre cloth (no buffing station here folks).
I have trawled the internet looking for info on the pipe, plenty to be found regards City De Luxe but nothing regards 'The Collegian' model. If anyone out there has any details they would be prepared to share then I would love to hear from them.
Below are some before and after pictures. I can now see that I didn't line up the stem correctly with the shank but be assured it does match up. I also realize I need to do some more work on the stem, particularly around the button.
Before...

And after...

Regards,
Jay.

 

[ejames]

Nice ! I love the shape !

 

[papipeguy]

Very nice job. Is there any indication that the stem is a replacement? I don't know when they began putting th metal star on the stem.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Papipeguy, I have no reason to think that the stem isn't original equipment. I have a few City De Luxe pipes and not one of them has the silver star on the stem! Odd but true. I don't know when the star appeared either but would like to know. I would also like to have a precise date for this pipe but methinks that would be asking too much :?
This stem being of the orific style is why I believe it to be original. I would have thought any replacement would have been of the more contemporary style ie flat fishtail.
I could of course be wrong, it has been known :wink:
Regards,
Jay.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

wow, the refurb went very well

 

[jpmcwjr]

Nice clean up/resto/refurb!
Did you take it down to bare briar before the new stain?

 

[mawnansmiff]

JPM yes I did take it back to bare briar, mainly to counter many of the smaller dings & dents and also to lose most of the darkening around the rim & upper bowl.
The final staining is a tad lighter than original as I wanted to show off the beautiful graining which unfortunately isn't very apparent in my above pictures.
I have found that as I do not have a buffing set up and everything is done by hand that it is essential to sand to higher grits (I sometimes go to 7000 grit) as then I am able to get a good sheen when final buffing (with wax polish) with a micro fibre cloth. This wouldn't be possible if I only sanded to say 1000 grit as some folks do, but of course they use buffing wheels after sanding.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[ssjones]

Very nice job, it can be done by hand! FWIW, I use up to 2000 grade on the stem, then 8000 and 1200 micromesh sheets before buffing. I like the level you took it to, it looks perfect to me. What a cool shape, it definitely has a 1920's look to it.

 

[fnord]

Jay:
This is lovely: sort of a paneled hybrid Rhodesian. Not my style but attractive as hell, great birds eye on the bowl and oh, so nice flame on the sides.
You did real good, friend.
Fnord

 

[jvnshr]

Wow, amazing job.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Thanks for the kind words chaps. Al, when I work on stems I usually start with 600 working up to 3000 grit paper then move onto the micro mesh. Though I have MM sheets up to 12000 I usually stop at 8000 then give it a good going over with Meguiar's plastic polish (another tip gleaned from Steve Laug). The final step is a light coating of mineral oil (AKA Johnson & Johnson baby oil).
Yes it is an unusual shape, the first of the like I have come across. Dainty & elegant. It's great to know that I am smoking a pipe that is not far from 100 years old, made more pleasurable by the fact that I refurbished it myself.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[ssjones]

I'm not very innovative, but I was the person on Steve's blog who first started using the automotive Plastic Polish (my screen name there is "upshallfan"). I was using this product for motorcycle windscreens, etc and found it worked well with stems and started including that in my blog entrys. I think it also helps retard oxidation.

 

[jacks6]

Nice work! That's a damn fine pipe!

 

[mso489]

Someone had clearly enjoyed the hell out of that little son-of-a-gun for many years, and now you've brought it back for another career. Maybe keep that bowl wiped out after a smoke, so you don't have to ream it much or at all. It's a small pipe; it can last for decades more if it doesn't have to be reamed out much. It is a snappy design. You did a beautiful job without abusing what's there.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Thank you MSO. As it happens I have taken a leaf out of your book and only clean my smoking pipes with a tissue scrunched up in the bowl. I only ever use my reamer when working on estates as they are invariably choked right up with cake. Some are so bad it is a wonder they smoked at all!
Regards,
Jay.

 

[papipeguy]

I got this CdL with a group of pipes I bought from the Goodwill site. The group of 5 pipes was $12.00. I have no idea what age it is but it's a nice little Canadian and smokes better than my GBD Canadian.

 

[jguss]

hi jay,
your pipe is an interesting example of an early promotional tie-in between the pipe world and hollywood. "the collegians" was a 1926 silent film starring george lewis (1903-1995). lewis, born in mexico, appeared in many movies of the silent era and beyond. he remained active into the 1960s in bit parts in movies and on tv. people in my generation may remember him best for his continuing role in disney's zorro.
"the collegians" was the first in a series of more than 40 shorts produced by universal and starring lewis; each was themed around the life of student ed benson (played by lewis) and his efforts to win the girl of his dreams while attending fictional calford college. the films were released between 1926-1929, and a. oppenheimer & co. created "the collegian" city de luxe pipe specifically to be featured them. promotional materials were made available to the trade showing "pictures and advertising matter of george lewis and other members of the cast smoking the city de luxe collegian pipe".
i don't know how long oppenheimer kept the pipe in production, but would guess its availability coincided with the release of the films in theaters.
hope you enjoy the additional background on your pipe. it's a beauty, and you did a great job restoring it. enjoy!
regards,

jon

 

[mawnansmiff]

Wow Jon, many thanks for those little snippets. Amazing what one can find out if one 'talks' to the right people and on this forum I often end up talking to the 'right people'.
Amazing to think that my pipe was being smoked during the silent film era, oh how things have changed but not so much in the pipe world where it seems that what worked then works just as well today...astonishing really ::
I wonder, would you care to put a value on the pipe? I really must let some pipes go as I'm becoming somewhat inundated with them lately and need to get some return on my outlay to further more estate purchases for both keeps and resale.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[jguss]

Hi Jay,
You're very welcome.
Unfortunately I'm not a good judge of market values for most pipes. Perhaps Al or Dave could chime in?
Best,

Jon

 

[jguss]

Newspaper ad from Nov 1927