Lee Van Cleef Pipe

[nevadablue]

After a forum member asked about 'who's pipe would you like to have', I answered "one like Lee Van Clleef smoked" in the spaghetti westerns.

Research shows that we probably won't know exactly what pipe it was. I found guesses and speculation only. I am betting on one of two options:

1. A WDC Claremont

2. Some pieced together pipe
Speculation is that the pipe was a WDC Wellington. But, the bowl of a Wellington looks too shallow. The Claremont looks to be a very close match to the one in the pic of Van Cleef in the movie.
Net photos:
The pic from the movie.

And, a closeup clipped from that pic.

The bowl seems to be too deep for a Wellington. But look at a WDC Claremont.

And another, bottom pipe in the pic.

The middle one in that pic is a Wellington by the way.
I have this pipe (a Comoy's second a Mansion House) and my lady is threatening harm if I buy any more pipes. I can't find a Claremont, so I think I will modify this pipe into a replica of what I see in the movie pic.

 

[didache]

Couldn't it be a Peterson shape 313? I would have thought that was more likely.
Mike

 

[lasttango]

Not sure what here's smoking in that pic... but this is the pipe he's been associated with most in the pipe world as far as I know:
https://www.altinokpipes.com/VC1007-lee-van-cleef

 

[mawnansmiff]

"I think I will modify this pipe into a replica of what I see in the movie pic."
Ken, how will you go about removing the three aluminium bars on the stem....and what will you replace them with?
Mike, I immediately thought Peterson too.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[nevadablue]

The pipe in Fist Full of Dollars (I believe it was) is the famous meerschaum, widely copied apparently. But this one is a briar for sure.

Yes, could be a Peterson. I notice that the bowl is 'skinny' too, along with being deep.

If I modify the Mansion House, it will be converted to a 'military' mount, with metal band and appropriately shaped stem. The more I consider this, the less I want to ruin the Mansion House pipe. I have a bunch of bent pipes, sans stems, in my box of pipe parts and more coming. One of them may be appropriate. The issue is that none of them seem to have a deep enough bowl.

I will keep studying this...

 

[puffermark]

I have a battered old Pete 309, which I refer to as my 'cowboy pipe'. I don't think it's 'the one' but close enough for me, and I can see the tumbleweeds and hear the coyotes when I smoke it.
Adios, half-soldier.

 

[unkleyoda]

I'd say for the size, it's a 303, the 309 is slightly larger.

 

[bassbug]

It can't be a Peterson.
I believe the photo and pipe are from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". The movie takes place during the American civil war, which ended in mid 1865. Peterson pipes did not exist till 1866 and the Peterson System pipe did not exist till 1891.
Having said all this, I will retract it all and say it probably is a Peterson, only because some guy (or girl) responsible for props on the movie was told to get a pipe for the scene and thought this one looked cool, and never mind being historically accurate

 

[nevadablue]

I decided to leave the Mansion House pipe alone, well just repair it. I am still waiting for the new stems to arrive and I will make my own 'good bad ugly' pipe.

 

[nevadablue]

I managed to snag this apparently unsmoked WDC Wellington stummel. The nickel band is loose so I can properly glue it in place during this build.

The stems I ordered came yesterday. They were supposed to be vulcanite, but they are apparently acrylic. I made a delrin mortise insert for the shank of the Wellington, to fit the stem to the shank.

The stem in the pictures of Van Cleef smoking the pipe is quite long from the wide part to the shank of the pipe, so I will leave this delrin mortise insert about a quarter inch proud of the top of the nickel band on the shank. I will also be using a nickel plated band as a reinforcing insert, between the briar of the shank and the delrin insert.

I discovered that the stem is probably acrylic while shaping it in the lathe. After fitting the stem to the delrin insert, I chucked it in the lathe and started working the shape down to match the diameter of the delrin. The powder on the file is white, it would be black if the stem were vulcanite. No biggie.

I still have to sand a bit more inside the shank, to allow the nickel insert band to seat fully. Then I can glue it and the delrin mortise insert in place. I plan to rough up the inside and outside of the nickel insert and cut locking slots in the delrin to allow the glue to lock it in place. I will also glue the original band on the outside of the shank that time. Then, on to buffing the stem.

 

[mayfair70]

I would have thought that in a spaghetti western, the pipes would have been Italian. That said, I have no clue. Nice work there Ken. Can't wait to see the finished product. :clap:

 

[jitterbugdude]

I would have thought that in a spaghetti western, the pipes would have been Italian

LVC was a pipe smoker so more than likely he was smoking one of his own pipes.

 

[rjlionheart]

LVC was a pipe smoker so more than likely he was smoking one of his own pipes.

There were WDC pipes made in Italy. I believe I read somewhere that the Meerschaum he smoked in “For A Few Dollars More” was also a WDC made in Italy or it was purchased in Italy. But, the story takes place in America. Willam Demuth opened his shop in 1862 in NYC, so a WDC pipe from that period in AFOD would be historically correct, be it a Wellington or Claremont.