City de Luxe 9438 Restoration

[ssjones]

I love the GBD 9438 shape and couldn't resist when this City de Luxe version was listed on Ebay.

The pipe didn't take much to clean it up, the process took just about two hours. This one is a twin-bore stem, a first one my rack.
I detailed the entire process on Steve's "Reborn Pipes" blog along with additional pictures:

http://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/2013/08/18/city-de-luxe-9438/
Here's a few pictures.
Before:



After:

 

[papipeguy]

Nice job, Al. This is the only City deLuxe I've seen here other than my Canadian, which smokes better than my GBD. Any idea how old your pipe is? I have not found any dating info on this sub-brand other than the year that GBD took them over.

 

[ssjones]

No clue as to the date, a guess would be the mid 70's? But, who knows. The wild card on this one is that twin-bore stem. It had a tight draw and one tube was completely blocked (now fixed) and I opened it up two drill bit sizes. But, there is no fixing those twin bore drafts. I'm going to do a run, than break it in, fingers are crossed.

 

[ssjones]

rothnhn: I can barely bet a thin cleaner thru each of those holes and it is a y-shaped transition. I just finished the first bowl, with some EMP. It smoked quite well, just as easy as my other 9438's, a one match affair out on the patio. But, cleaning will be fussy. I will try opening up those button end draft holes with a needle file and perhaps some more file work on the tenon end. Twin bore stems are definitely a bit gimmicky and completely unnecessary.

 

[petes03]

Good lookin pipe!

 

[tbradsim1]

Twin Bore on a Radice, should be the same?

 

[ssjones]

Yep, I believe mine is constructed much the same.

 

[papipeguy]

I've had no problem with mine passing a pipe cleaner through either opening. Hopefully time will open them up. I think their pretty cool pipes.

 

[bobpnm]

Beautiful pipe Al! I am quite fond of that shape too. I'm on the lookout.

 

[papipeguy]

I think the Cty DeLuxe is a pretty rare bird. It was GBD's "every man's" pipe whe introduce. If mine is a typical example, they are very nice smokers.