Estate Pipe Restoration

[seakayak]

Over the past several years, I have found great pleasure in scouring antique shops and consignment stores for old (often abused) estate pipes. Living within a short bike ride of Palm Beach, Florida makes the hunting especially rewarding. During that time, I've come across some real finds for minimal cost, but the real joy comes from finding a beautiful old briar that has been smoked into apparent disrepair. The peace I find in restoring these treasures to their original luster has become a favorite pastime. If you have restored an old pipe, you know what I mean. If you haven't, consider this ancillary hobby. It's most rewarding and is a great way to develop an expanded collection for considerably less cost than buying new.

 

[mrgunnar177]

how would one go about fulling restoring a pipe? I would love to see pics of the process and some of the pipes you have restored!

 

[garyovich]

mrgunnar, check this out:
reborn pipes

 

[mlyvers]

yes sir, i enjoy the work myself. i have only performed 5 refurbs all charatan pipes. i think i will continue this hobby (refurbishing) for a long time... i turely enjoy the work, the reward is great.
take care.

mike.

 

[seakayak]

Thanks, Gary. I recently restored a Wally Frank that looks a lot like the straight pipe about half way down the page. Very helpful information, even for old coots like me.

 

[twangthang]

I am pretty new to this pipe smoking thing. My third pipe was an estate I rescued.

I loved the process and found it very rewarding. It is an Ayers. I don't know anything

About the brand, but it smokes like a dream.

I am waiting for delivery of my next project, a Savinelli.

I can't wait to bring this pipe back to life.

 

[seakayak]

Check out Pipedia.com for information about your pipes. It's a great source if you'd like to learn more about makers, materials, markings, company histories and just about anything else about your estates. For me, learning where my new/old pipe came from is half the fun.

 

[ssjones]

I'm with you Seakayak. Restoring estates at first was a means to acquire pipes that I otherwise wouldn't be able to afford. Now, I love the restoration process as much as smoking them. I also get a kick out of the detective work sometimes necessary to learn about a pipe (my recent Peterson 999 trade with Dave a good example). It's not that difficult, with a minimum of tools and space required.

 

[gnatjulio]

very cool link garyovich.

 

[nsfisher]

I do an awful lot of them. Probably 50 in the past year or so. To me, they look good when I am done, but I do not do as good a job as some others on here do. I would rather find an old beat up Estate pipe to "bring back to life" than buy a new pipe. I smoke tobacco out of addiction, but I clean up old ones to smoke out of hobby.

 

[wagnon85]

I recently completed my very first restoration project, a very used, but structurally intact, Dunhill straight billiard from 1942. Maybe a bit ambitious for my first, but I have woodworking experience, so I was confident in my abilities. I did research before and went into it with a plan. I went slow and was careful, figuring if the project started getting away from me, then the pipe could just be a nice conversation piece! hehe
It turned out nicely, and about what I envisioned. It was very rewarding and fulfilling to bring the old girl back to life and she smokes great. And it left me open to more in the future.

 

[matchstickman]

I've restored roughly more than half of the pipes that I currently own. I've got some really great smokers for next to nothing by just doing a little work to get them shined up myself. Some of my greatest bargain finds include 3 GBD's for $20, a Ben Wade for $5, and a lot that included a Meerschaum, a Peterson, a Falcon, and 10 more "beater" pipes for $50.

 

[deleon]

A majority of my pipe collection are estate pipes that I learned to refurbish with the help of this site and other online advice. Not only is it rewarding for me to restore an estate pipe for myself or someone else but they all have a story to tell already. When you buy a new pipe it's a fresh start, but an estate you can spend a few minutes telling someone how little of a price you paid, or how you found it or some other story that catches someone's attention.

 

[seakayak]

A thousand thanks, gentlemen. I knew I wasn't alone in my pursuit of pipes with a past. About half my pipes are refurbished estates and I appreciate them all the more for the pleasant hours I've spent bringing them back to life.

 

[cigrmaster]

roth, I am just like you. I can totally appreciate people who love to work with their hands and take something old and cruddy and make it beautiful, I am just not one of those guys. I own a hammer, screw driver and vice grip, that is the extent of my tools. I do the cooking so I am into pots and pans,knives and kitchen gadgets. My ex wife used to go picking for antiques and restore them, she was the handy one in the household and she barely cooked.