Estate pipe ID help?

[mailboylou]

Hey folks,
New here...
Was just wondering if I could get some help on IDing the pipe below?
It was bought 20 years ago as an estate pipe in an antique store down here in Australia - at the time the merchant had no real idea about what brand etc it may be.
The only mark I can see is a "male" symbol on the stem.

Many thanks in advance,

Louie

 

[pstlpkr]

Welcome Louie,

While I've seen the symbol...

I've never seen it on a pipe.

It might be an Australian maker...

Just a guess.

It looks like it might have been shaped with a rasp creating the unusual rustication.

And, since the stem doesn't appear to be a great fit.

The stem might have been purchased separately or is a replacement.

That leads me to think it might be a "home made" pipe.

Nice one though... I like the look of it.

 

[mailboylou]

Thanks Lawrence for the reply and welcome,
Yes, as yet I haven't had much luck tracking down any info on the symbol's link to a maker... Will see what I can find along the lines of an Australian maker as you suggested (hadn't actually thought of that, funnily enough).
The fella who sold it to me did hazard a guess that it may indicate it was made on the Isle of Man, but I took it with a heavy grain of salt at the time even (pipes were hardly the shops speciality).
And, yes, your thought that the rustication may come from a rasp may indeed be true - now I'm looking at it, it appears to be gouged in with single, heavy strokes for each "facet" , at least the striations anyway.
Thanks again,

Louie

 

[mluyckx]

It's a nice looking pipe alright, but I have never seen that logo on a pipe either.

Good luck though and don't forget to re-post the info here if you ever find out what it is.

 

[jpberg]

While I can't identify the maker of your pipe, I can tell you that the fellow who sold it to you was probably mistaking the "male" symbol with the "three legged" Isle of Man symbol - which would have made it a Manx pipe.

 

[lonestar]

Jpberg beat me to it. Isle of Man. This was the seat of African Block Meerschaum pipe production for a long time. What you have is an African Meerschaum pipe, carved on the Isle of Man.

 

[mailboylou]

Sooooo many thanks to everyone who replied.
Lonestar and jpberg - with the info you provided I was able to track down what I believe is the info I needed.
It looks like it may well be the cousin of this chap:

It would appear to be a "Man Pipe" ( http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-m1.html#man - taking particular note of the lower images shown) and seems to have been made by Laxey Pipes Ltd. ( http://pipedia.org/index.php?title=Laxey_Pipes_Ltd. (link is having issues - the entire line including the period after "Ltd" should just be copied/pasted to browser) ).
Now, for the kicker - after looking at those pages it says they are often marked with "Great Britain" on the underside of the stem... and this goes to show how bad my eye sight is getting these days, but when I took the stem under a good light I can read there, not "Great Britain", but "Isle of Man"
Now that the mystery of the pipe's original is all but solved - I must ask - how would one go about cleaning such a pipe safely?
I was in the process of reaming what little cake was in the bowl tonight - I have put maybe 3 bowls worth of aromatic tobacco through this pipe since I came back to my pipes (I have only recently returned to pipe smoking after close to a 20 year absence/detour into the land of cigarettes ) - this pipe, along with my others had been kept in the state I left them in those long years ago - probably having just run a pipe cleaner through the stems after the last loads I smoked in my late teen years.
I must confess I had presumed the pipe wooden based owing to the color:S
My next step would have been to use salt/alcohol (when I presumed it was wood/briar) to get rid of a particular strong scented odour the pipe has, which is not to owing to the aromatics as best I can tell (it was stored in an old liquor cabinet with some incense and candles, and am thinking it's picked up something from one or the others of those).
Am unsure how best to proceed, now, though.
Something rather saddening - I noticed in the photos I posted originally with my question, that there is a small crack I hadn't seen with my aforementioned bad eyes "in the flesh"
Once again, many thanks to all for solving what has been a long (though forgotten for many years) mystery for me
I wish I'd never turned my back on pipe smoking in the first instance at such times - though now I'm back I intend to stay
Cheers,

Louie

 

[lonestar]

Welcome back to the fold. You will find all the info you want or need here. Access to a wider range of fine tobaccos is one big change in 20 years so dive right in, we'll have you hoarding pounds of the stuff before too long :D

I have a fair amount of experience working on African Meerschaum. You can't do much to hurt them IMO. Its pretty much carved from a rock.

The one big mistake you can make with African Meer is damaging the finish. I always thought these pipes were stained like most pipes, but after wrestling with the finish on a couple of them, I'm convinced they are actually painted. At the very least, they use some type of finish that is not easy to replace.

So, salt and alcohol inside the bowl should be fine, just be careful that you keep the alcohol off the finish. I dont believe a splash of alcohol will hurt anything at all, but scraping or sanding the finish is contraindicated in the repair manual.

 

[mailboylou]

Thanks again lonestar
Will proceed with the salt/alcohol tomorrow in that case...
Will also pop some better pics up once I am through with the whole cleaning too, just for future reference if nothing else, should anyone need this thread down the line.
And indeed, looks like the availability of tobacco down here in Oz has improved over the last couple decades - for the second I'm on the ubiquitous (for here) Amphora (which was my main brand back in the day, too - beyond that all I really had access to was Borkum Riff and Captain Black).
Am finding it a lil too strong, flavour wise, these days (far too used to cigs, I guess) so have some Dunhill EMP and Peterson University Flake in the mail heading my way as we speak - figure since I'm back it's time to try something new
Was quite happy to find numerous suppliers down here online offering a range of exciting looking possibilities - and like you said (money allowing) can quickly see myself grabbing everything in sight to explore/stock pile
Likewise, will take your advice, too, storient lol 8O
Edit: on the topic of the pipe's finish, now I look at it closer I can see what you mean about how it seems to be kinda painted, lonestar: the raised areas, especially on the underside, show some wear, and in those spots the color is much faded - so it seems that any pigment is rather shallow at best. Likewise I am now seeing a darker area on the top side above where the mouthpiece joins the rest of the pipe - there's a dark patch there which could actually be an old repair site I'm thinking, as it looks like there is another (damnit) crack there, and someone has tried (somewhat unsuccesfully) to match the tone of the rest of the finish...

 

[spartan]

Welcome to the fold MailBoyLou.
Wow. I can hardly believe that the first brown pipe is actually African Meerschaum. That's crazy.

 

[keith929]

As a collector of African Meers I have to say that is the first one I've seen with brown coloring. Great find !

 

[mailboylou]

Being somewhat of a newbie at pipes, I must say, even in my hand I had presumed it was briar :| Had never even heard of African Meerschaum before I came here and asked for the ID...
And Keith - good to see you - I believe I've watched some videos you made on YouTube? If you are indeed the same chap I'm thinking of, I found your review on University Flake particularly helpful in selecting it in my previous tobacco purchase

 

[auspipe]

Nice pipes mate and great to see a fellow aussie on these forums

 

[mailboylou]

Heya auspipe
Good to see other Australians here - gives me someone to commiserate with over tobacco prices down here >.

 

[pufferissimo]

@auspipe and @mailboylou
Helloww from Jakarta, Indonesia

 

[mailboylou]

Hello pufferissimo, our northern neighbour:D