First Estate Pipes

[blacksmith]

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I won two auctions of my first estate pipes. Here I have four pictures of two pipes. The first ones show the pipes with oxidized stems as they were listen on ebay and the other two are my own after I first tried my hand at renovating stems. Hope to hear your opinions about both the pipes and work that I did.

The first one is Picadilly Oldenkott and the following is Royal Dutch Trinidad.

Note: The room was too bright when I took the pictures so to see the actual color and texture of the briars - view the first pictures.

 

[blacksmith]

I will soon inform you about how it smokes.

 

[eaglerico]

In the first picture that Picadilly almost looks to have a P-lip stem. Good job on your first restoration attempts.

 

[blacksmith]

And it really is a p-lip stem, which is also a thing I'd like to know more about. At first I thought it's a stem from some Peterson's pipe, but there is an Oldenkott engraving on it.

 

[pruss]

Hey Blacksmith, nice work on your first estates!
They both look like solid pieces of briar, and as Roth said, they're in classic shapes. Nice score, and nice work.
Keep it up, and thanks for posting the pictures for us.
-- Pat

 

[allan]

These old vulcanite stems are really difficult to get back to new looking condition.
I've tried different remedies, but to no avail

 

[rigmedic1]

Try the stem restore kit from Walker Briar Works. I have used it with great success on some really ratty stems.

 

[blacksmith]

I used the 2000 and 2500 sand paper, it took me more than four hours, but it was worth it.

 

[blacksmith]

I live in Latvia so I can't get the things you mentioned. I'm intending to order a micro polish kit from ebay instead.

 

[teufelhund]

Love that tall stack on that nose warmer. Congrats on your wins and keep up the good work. Happy smoking.

 

[cortezattic]

It's good to see people such as yourself putting that old wood back in service. Nice job! :clap:

 

[fnord]

You did great work, Blacksmith, on your first stem restore. While four hours is a long time you'll be able to halve that, or better, when you get a micromesh kit. I spent an hour and a half last night on a pair of grungy stems and packed it in when my hands started cramping.
I'd suggest picking up a small pot of Halcyon II wax to keep the stems and bowls looking good. Others use olive oil or even Chapstick on the stems to slow down the oxidation process.
I've had mixed results with the Walker kit and rarely use it anymore once I discovered how much more crud I was knocking off my stems with a bleach soak and micromesh.
Nice job, friend.
Fnord

 

[blacksmith]

Thanks everyone, will keep your tips in mind

 

[andrew]

Beauty's, the only Pipe I've bought new is a cheap 30$ piece, which looks decent but doesn't smoke good. The ironic thing is that's also the most I've paid for a pipe now, and I've got a stanwell, some danish sovereigns, a Ben Wade freehand, a Butz choquim (my favourite). I don't think I'd ever buy a new pipe now, I love estate pipes, especially since the most I've paid for one is 28$ for a meershaum. Usually I get them for 12$ each.

 

[blacksmith]

I got them both for 25$ and I'm truly content.

 

[blacksmith]

Just had the first smoke with Royal Dutch, excellent smoker I've got to say!

 

[kcvet67]

I'm not familiar with the brands, but they certainly look great -- and in classic shapes.

Oldenkott was a large German pipe maker from the late 1800s until they closed in 1992. Their pipes were machine-made and moderately priced. I've never owned one but they're known as good smokers and are still popular in Europe.
Royal Dutch is made by Gubbels:

http://pipedia.org/wiki/Gubbels

 

[gwtwdbss]

Those are some great looking estates! Nice work on the clean-up blacksmith.

 

[blacksmith]

Thanks a lot for the information kcvet67 and rothnh, I really needed it!