A Meer-lined Grabow. What to Do?

[woodrow]

I did a trade with a Brigham collector for a bag of old pipes. I wanted to make some vulcanite and briar dust for refurb. I found a couple of pipes that had promise.

One is a old meer lined Grabow. The liner had failed a long time ago. The pipe was thick with varnish, and the stummel was unusually heavy. There’s a lot of wood to work with.
With a good alcohol soak I got lucky and the liner fell away from the pipe.

The varnish was very heavy. Tough to take off, and I wanted to lighten the pipe a bit. I had work to do.
One problem is the size of the bowl with the missing liner. It’s immense! Im going to swab a little JB weld in the walls of the pipe and add a coating on top of the pipe. Not sure what else I could do.
Im going to dye the pipe a light brown, but I’m not sure whether to work on the pipe surface and remove all the black divots or not.
What do you think pipers? I’ve added before and after pics to show where I’m at.

 

[jpmcwjr]

How much weight was changed with the varnish removal?

I would not spend time on the dark spots.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Please put your location in your Profile!

Why: It will save time for others as to where you live when you mention local stores, weather, tobacco prices, availability, regulations, location of photos, wildfires, air quality, etc. In many instances that saves time for those who read your posts, and for you in not having to reply to inquiries. .
How:
Under your avatar, (top right, left most of three symbols) you choose "Account Details", which brings up "My Account". "My Location" is halfway down. Whatever you're comfortable with- town, city, county, state. province, etc.

 

[mso489]

You are working on a pipe that was designed to have a liner, so it is not possible to guess how it will smoke without the liner, in terms of the bowl getting hot and/or developing a crack or a burn-out. Also, the weighty aspect is odd; it should be lighter without the liner rather than still overweight.

It will be fun to see what can be done, but if it were me, I wouldn't invest a lot of time in it. Do what you can, see how it smokes, and don't be surprised if it is all just an exercise without great results.

 

[woodrow]

Please put your location in your Profile!

Why: It will save time for others as to where you live when you mention local stores, weather, tobacco prices, availability, regulations, location of photos, wildfires, air quality, etc. In many instances that saves time for those who read your posts, and for you in not having to reply to inquiries. .
How:
Under your avatar, (top right, left most of three symbols) you choose "Account Details", which brings up "My Account". "My Location" is halfway down. Whatever you're comfortable with- town, city, county, state. province, etc.

Done! And thanks much for the instructions.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

I would consider measuring the chamber and seeing if a replacement Meerschaum liner could be dropped into place with minimal filler (fireplace mortar, Plaster of Paris, or G/flex epoxy that can probably handle the temperature).

 

[woodrow]

You are working on a pipe that was designed to have a liner, so it is not possible to guess how it will smoke without the liner, in terms of the bowl getting hot and/or developing a crack or a burn-out. Also, the weighty aspect is odd; it should be lighter without the liner rather than still overweight.

It will be fun to see what can be done, but if it were me, I wouldn't invest a lot of time in it. Do what you can, see how it smokes, and don't be surprised if it is all just an exercise without great results.

Your right on all counts. The weight I think is the sheer amount of briar. There’s big ovals of briar on either side of the stummel. The stem was in good shape. I’ve taken some briar off. It’s a good pipe to mess with. I’ll be adding a bowl coating on top of the JB weld.
The bowl is just fricken huge!

 

[anotherbob]

You are working on a pipe that was designed to have a liner, so it is not possible to guess how it will smoke without the liner, in terms of the bowl getting hot and/or developing a crack or a burn-out. Also, the weighty aspect is odd; it should be lighter without the liner rather than still overweight.

It will be fun to see what can be done, but if it were me, I wouldn't invest a lot of time in it. Do what you can, see how it smokes, and don't be surprised if it is all just an exercise without great results.

i suspect that some meer lined pipes are an attempt to save a briar with serious internal flaws. Key word is some

 

[TheIronMonkey]

I haven't dealt with this company, but, it sounds like they could custom fit a lining for you.

Meerschaum Linings (1 PIECE) - CPW Calabash Pipes

WE CARVE ANY SIZE MEERSCHAUM LININGS PLEASE ASK FOR DETAILS

www.calabashpipesworld.com

 

[NE Pipeteer]

Howdy Woodrow,

I can't tell ya what to do with your old Grabow but, I can tell you that I recently restored a Hilson Fantasia meer lined nylon pipe. The lining was all busted out of the bottom half of the bowl. And to add insult to injury the previous abusive owner continued to smoke the pipe with no bottom in the liner. I had never done a meer repair so, I looked up "what would Steve Laug do" or rather what has Steve done. He mentioned using plaster of Paris to repair a meer.
So, off to the hardware store in town for some plaster. I mixed it up as per instructions on the package and formed a new liner out of plaster. While it was drying/setting-up/curing, whatever plaster does, I got the granddaughter and we made a couple of plaster handprints for her mom and dad. Good time, that.
Here is the result in photos. I did smoke her, a couple of days later. The Hilson Fantasia not, the granddaughter, and I smoked her hot just to see what would happen. It worked fine. I have only run one bowl through her and I will not be selling her as a restore. I just wanted to have done one.

From southeast NE,
John

 

[TheIronMonkey]

My estate Rayex’s Meerschaum lining crumbled when I removed tobacco that was left in it from probably thirty or forty plus years ago. I filled it with Plaster of Paris and it works fine now.

 

[woodrow]

Howdy Woodrow,

I can't tell ya what to do with your old Grabow but, I can tell you that I recently restored a Hilson Fantasia meer lined nylon pipe. The lining was all busted out of the bottom half of the bowl. And to add insult to injury the previous abusive owner continued to smoke the pipe with no bottom in the liner. I had never done a meer repair so, I looked up "what would Steve Laug do" or rather what has Steve done. He mentioned using plaster of Paris to repair a meer.
So, off to the hardware store in town for some plaster. I mixed it up as per instructions on the package and formed a new liner out of plaster. While it was drying/setting-up/curing, whatever plaster does, I got the granddaughter and we made a couple of plaster handprints for her mom and dad. Good time, that.
Here is the result in photos. I did smoke her, a couple of days later. The Hilson Fantasia not, the granddaughter, and I smoked her hot just to see what would happen. It worked fine. I have only run one bowl through her and I will not be selling her as a restore. I just wanted to have done one.

From southeast NE,
John

Good idea for the plaster John. I may go with a light coating of JB Weld, then plaster of Paris. Then a bowl coating

 

[woodrow]

The journey so far. Sanded out a lot of divots. Getting there.

 

[woodrow]

Well we finally made it. I filled the floor with some JB Weld, coated with Plaster of Paris as suggested. Made initial cuts with a dremel. Sanded a lot. Just have to add a bowl coating of sour cream and charcoal. Should be good to go.
The pipe is still a bit heavy. I attribute that to the original meer lining and the amount of briar on either side of the pipe.
Should be good to go tomorrow morning.

 

[woodrow]

Not perfect by any stretch, but the pipe is lighter with some nice grain.