This is the first meer I bought about 3 years ago and one day I clenched down to hard and shattered the stock acrylic stem. A short time after I found a "pipe maker" (who will remain nameless) who said he could make a new stem for me, he did, two whole weeks later I received the pipe back. Not only did it come back with a huge, deep scratch on the outside of the bowl but it also had a two inch hairline crack in the shank. Neither of which existed before sending it to this guy. On top of all that, when clenching that stem it was made so poorly that it actually bent in the bite zone from the weight of the pipe (which isn't even heavy!), so sagged basically and I was left again with an unusable pipe.
Last fall, through the recommendation of another PSF member, I contacted Ryan Alden and asked him if he could take a look at my pipe for me. He was going through some tough times then as some of you might know and he asked me to get back to him again in the spring. A few weeks ago I emailed him again, things had smoothed out for him and he was happy to take my project on.
So, I don't have any before pictures sadly but imagine a meerschaum with a beat up scratched bowl, a hairline fracture in the shank and no stem. He put a piece of antique bakelite in for the tenon, glued the crack and added a silver band to match the silver cap the pipe came with and cut a new stem for me out of briar cumberland and redrilled the airway. He also slimmed down the shank a bit to make it more sleek and refinished the entire outside of the bowl, no more scratches. It looks like a brand new pipe and I couldn't be more pleased with his work. Which is great, because it was not cheap but very worth it to me.
These are his pics but I received the pipe today and oh yeah, he did all that work and it was like less then a week turnaround time. Unlike that other "pipe maker" who took two weeks to make a shitty stem and fuck my pipe up.
Last fall, through the recommendation of another PSF member, I contacted Ryan Alden and asked him if he could take a look at my pipe for me. He was going through some tough times then as some of you might know and he asked me to get back to him again in the spring. A few weeks ago I emailed him again, things had smoothed out for him and he was happy to take my project on.
So, I don't have any before pictures sadly but imagine a meerschaum with a beat up scratched bowl, a hairline fracture in the shank and no stem. He put a piece of antique bakelite in for the tenon, glued the crack and added a silver band to match the silver cap the pipe came with and cut a new stem for me out of briar cumberland and redrilled the airway. He also slimmed down the shank a bit to make it more sleek and refinished the entire outside of the bowl, no more scratches. It looks like a brand new pipe and I couldn't be more pleased with his work. Which is great, because it was not cheap but very worth it to me.
These are his pics but I received the pipe today and oh yeah, he did all that work and it was like less then a week turnaround time. Unlike that other "pipe maker" who took two weeks to make a shitty stem and fuck my pipe up.
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. And that’s a great looking pipe.
