I came across this old pipe on eBay and couldn't pass it by. The craftsmanship that went into some of these old figurals really deserves respect. Unfortunately, the briar shank extension had a crack in it which might have been caused or aggravated by the ill fitted stem it was sporting so I decided a project was in order. My solution was to fix the crack and install an insert whittled and sanded from a natural wine bottle cork. My hope was to do no modifications to the briar and also reduce stress that might be put on the repaired crack by a new stem. The cork was then drilled through to match the inside diameter of the bone screw which connected the extension to the stummel and then a Teflon threaded collar meant for a meerschaum was installed. I then gave a "meant for meerschaum" churchwarden stem a gentle bend, plugged it in and here we are. The old boy weighs in at 130g and is 11.5 inches.
