GBD Prehistoric With A Couple of Repairs- Smokes well or Junk?

[snagstangl]

I picked this one up recently. It has a crack in the shank that was banded, a briar plug in the bottom, and a nice clear lucite stem with a bronze GBD logo on it. The stem was probably worth what I paid for the pipe which was $13.50. In your experiance do a couple repairs point to a pipe that was well loved and smokes well or a junker that someone just kept trying to fix?
I plan on smoking it and if it is worth keeping I will pipe mud it up to level out the sides and so forth.

 

[rmbittner]

I think it depends on how well-done the repairs are. . . which I'm guessing you really have no way of knowing. (But I've never smoked a pipe that has been repaired like this; others may have a much better sense of what to look for.)
The banding shouldn't be an issue. Many older pipes have had shank cracks repaired like this. Assuming it was handled correctly, it should essentially be as good as new. I'd be more concerned about the briar plug in the bottom. The only reason I can think of for that is a burn-out. But, again, assuming it was repaired correctly, the pipe is probably fine to smoke.
I'd personally be wary of this one, though, simply because it has had these two repairs. It seems like a lot of work to do on a pipe that likely wasn't that expensive to begin with. And I'm wondering just what the previous owner(s) put it through. Personally, I think I'd always look at it as a flawed pipe, and I'd likely only use it rarely. But that's just me.
Bob

 

[7ach]

I have one cracked/banded pipe and it smokes fine. I have no idea about a briar plug. Do you have a picture? I would be interested to see.

 

[smokeybear]

I've owned a few GBD Prehistoric pipes with the perplex stem and I found that new or on great condition they were ok smokers. They tended to get hot rather quickly so you'll need to puff really slow. But once you get the hang of them the are great pipes that's probably why the previous owner did what they could to keep it going.

 

[snagstangl]

Well I just smoked it. Very easy draw, smoked well but I suspect smokeybear is correct that if I pushed it with something other than some burley it would heat up until I build my own cake up in it a bit or pipemud it up. I think the bottom of the bowl it looks like perhaps they cleaned it with a knife and the briar plug itself sticks up higher than the rest of the bottom of the bowl. The band was silver at some point and is heavily tarnished.

 

[smokeybear]

Blue magic polish will clean that band up nicely also the perplex stem is pretty clean so I think you got yourself a nice pipe there just keep smoking it and buildings that cake.

 

[ssjones]

Older Prehistorics like yours are some of my best smokers. At $14, what do you have to lose? The brass rondell on the stem is certainly worth the $14 if the pipe falls apart. To me, the repairs look done properly and it could last years.

 

[condorlover1]

I am right in thinking that someone in the past made a plug to fill up the hole at the bottom of the bowl? If so that has to be one of the cleverest repairs I have ever seen done to a pipe. Thats a great conversation starter if ever I have seen one.

 

[ssjones]

That is a fairly common repair, but someone did that one quite well