There was a large fundraiser flea market in town this past weekend. I wandered through looking for pipes, found a couple interesting ones but the vendors were asking champagne prices for 7-up. Unbeknownst to me, my parents had rolled through earlier and my Mom picked up a pipe for me! I decided to document my restoration process this time, and share the fun with everyone! 
It's a Brigham two dot, shape 19. From the logo my guess is that it's circa 1980-1990. It appears to have been smoked maybe once. The finish of the pipe is in good shape.
The stem is jammed in there, and hardly moved. I had to twist it out (while praying to the pipe gods). There was about a 2mm gap between the stem and the shank. Oriented properly in the shank, the stem matched the shank; there weren't any irregularities that made me think it was a stem replacement. Perhaps the wood expanded?
The stem had oxidized, and spent some time in someone's mouth. There was a little bit of chatter, but a lot of gunk. Bleh, that old saying of not looking a gift horse in the mouth may apply to pipes!
There was a bit of rim char, but the chamber itself was nearly pristine. It had either been reamed back to wood or had only been smoked once or twice. Or, perhaps it was used as a prop? Either way, I was surprised.
I soaked the pipe stem in oxyclean for a couple of hours, rinsed it off and then used a magic eraser and a drop of Murphy's Oil Soap on the stem and pipe. That cleared off the oxidation on the pipe stem and the char on the rim. The gap between stem and shank was still there, and it the stem was still dangerously tight to insert or remove.
At this time, I took the opportunity to disinfect the stem with some Irish whiskey. I ran a whiskey soaked q-tip through the tenon and used another q-tip to scrub the shank. I set everything aside until after dinner.
The stem was dull and slightly "gritty" feeling after its cleaning, so I then used the full range of micromesh sanding pads to bring it back to smooth, shiny, and black. I also used the micromesh on the tenon to allow it to fit into the pipe more easily. Once I was happy with the stem and its fit, I rubbed on a generous amount of a beeswax & mineral oil mixture and hand buffed it.
Overall, it took about one hour of dedicated work throughout my day and I'm quite pleased with the result!
I did have a couple of questions for the Brigham experts here. I have not been able to find Shape #19 on Brigham's site or through Google. Any help there? I have also not seen that type of mouthpiece on a stem before...any info on that?
Thanks!
Chris.
It's a Brigham two dot, shape 19. From the logo my guess is that it's circa 1980-1990. It appears to have been smoked maybe once. The finish of the pipe is in good shape.
The stem is jammed in there, and hardly moved. I had to twist it out (while praying to the pipe gods). There was about a 2mm gap between the stem and the shank. Oriented properly in the shank, the stem matched the shank; there weren't any irregularities that made me think it was a stem replacement. Perhaps the wood expanded?
The stem had oxidized, and spent some time in someone's mouth. There was a little bit of chatter, but a lot of gunk. Bleh, that old saying of not looking a gift horse in the mouth may apply to pipes!
There was a bit of rim char, but the chamber itself was nearly pristine. It had either been reamed back to wood or had only been smoked once or twice. Or, perhaps it was used as a prop? Either way, I was surprised.
I soaked the pipe stem in oxyclean for a couple of hours, rinsed it off and then used a magic eraser and a drop of Murphy's Oil Soap on the stem and pipe. That cleared off the oxidation on the pipe stem and the char on the rim. The gap between stem and shank was still there, and it the stem was still dangerously tight to insert or remove.
At this time, I took the opportunity to disinfect the stem with some Irish whiskey. I ran a whiskey soaked q-tip through the tenon and used another q-tip to scrub the shank. I set everything aside until after dinner.
The stem was dull and slightly "gritty" feeling after its cleaning, so I then used the full range of micromesh sanding pads to bring it back to smooth, shiny, and black. I also used the micromesh on the tenon to allow it to fit into the pipe more easily. Once I was happy with the stem and its fit, I rubbed on a generous amount of a beeswax & mineral oil mixture and hand buffed it.
Overall, it took about one hour of dedicated work throughout my day and I'm quite pleased with the result!
I did have a couple of questions for the Brigham experts here. I have not been able to find Shape #19 on Brigham's site or through Google. Any help there? I have also not seen that type of mouthpiece on a stem before...any info on that?
Thanks!
Chris.
