Show Off Your Dr. Grabow Pipes Here!

[danielplainview]

Good looking pipes fellas. Nice resto tuold. That's the first Eldorado I've seen in the prince shape. Nice score.

 

[tuold]

Finally got around to working on my new Doc Grabow Regal. Here's a before and some after pics. No magic here. Just scrub and polish. It's an Adjustomatic with the rook style removable stinger.

 

[ejames]

Nice Grabows Gents! The Regals seem to get overlooked in favor of the Starfires and Viscounts etc,although I know one guy who has a large collection of them. I like the early Regals because they had the same rustication style as the Silver Duke.

I don't recall seeing an Eldorado Prince before.

 

[danielplainview]

@tuold

I'd love to see the "family portrait" of Grabows. Well done on the refurb as always.

 

[tuold]

Just picked up this Starfire today. I didn't know Dr Grabow made Starfires this small! It's barely five inches long and the six panel bowl diameter is about an inch rim to rim. It has an odd looking spear-like stinger with an Adjustomatic screw stem.

 

[ejames]

tuold,Grabow never made a Starfire in that shape. Yours is the second one like that I have seen-I have the other. According to the Grabow shape charts a paneled Starfire was not available. According to Tom D. what they did sometimes was to panel a pipe that had a bad flaw--cut panels to remove it. They did this quite often to the "baby" Dukes and Larks. From the way you're describing the stinger I'd say it has the wrong one.

Good score!

 

[griffonwing]

I picked this one up on Christmas eve, for a grand total of $3.95.

The bowl looks smoked out of, but barely touched. It may be been reamed before selling. The mouthbit has some chatter around it, but no holes. Unfortunately, I was unable to untwist the stem, so I put it in the freezer. The result was that the whole tenon/mortise slipped out through. Apparently this smoker is rusted.

 

[tuold]

So what's the next step? Maybe some WD40, steel wool or small wire brush? After that, if you have some jeweler's pliers you might be able separate the stem from the tenon.
That little pawn piece looks like it comes off for pipe cleaner passing.
I'm interested to see where you will go with this next!

 

[ejames]

Most Riviera's are a push type tenon. Put the stem back in the freezer for a while and then use some padded pliers to hold it and try to remove that fitting from the stem. That little pawn piece is a removable stinger,should pull right out but might need a little persuasion from padded pliers. Once you get the filling out of the stem epoxy it back into the mortize.

Unusual rustication on that one. Is it stamped Italy?

 

[griffonwing]

Thank you tuold and ejames. No, it doesn't say Italy anywhere, but the other side is stamped Imported Briar. The stampings seem to almost new, as they are still a bit rough.
I have put it back in the freezer and will use 2 padded pliers tomorrow.

 

[tuold]

Here is my Grabow collection which represents a little over 10% of my total pipes.
From top to bottom, left to right:
Freehand

Starfire

Starfire

Starfire

Lark

Viscount

Viscount

Supreme
(second row)
Riviera

Tru-Grain

Golden Duke

Golden Duke

Silver Duke

Duke

Belvedere

Regal
(Bottom)
Omega

My favorite is the Viscount Bulldog. the Riviera Pot isn't bad, either.
Just realized I left out Regal from an above post from the family photo. I gotta get organised someday!
I just won on ebay an unusual Grand Duke with a VFQ stem and added windscreen. Should be interesting.

 

[ejames]

Thank you tuold and ejames. No, it doesn't say Italy anywhere, but the other side is stamped Imported Briar. The stampings seem to almost new, as they are still a bit rough.
I have put it back in the freezer and will use 2 padded pliers tomorrow.

After looking at your pics again I realized something ain't right with that stem ! The stinger is where it should,but it looks like someone has knurled the tenon!It may have been loose and was knurled in an effort to tighten it up. Don't try to remove that fitting from the stem ! The other end of that fitting will look a lot like the one you see, and it should not come apart from the stem.

 

[ejames]

Nice group of Grabows tuold! Does the Golden Duke bulldog have a saddle or tapered stem?

 

[tuold]

@ejames, is there such thing as a tapered saddle?
Here's a solo shot:

The bit is very wide and the pipe is well balanced. It's a good clencher for a straight pipe.

 

[griffonwing]

ejames. I don't think the 'knurled' tenon is a tenon. I believe that it's simply the mortise for the female bit. As you can see, the silver separator should be on the shaft, not the stem. The stem/stinger should unscrew, but it wouldnt budge. I thought the freezer trick would work, but that was before I knew it was a stinger bit instead of a regular insert.
I may have to get some WD40 and let it work through any rustication. I find it really weird that the stem bit is in such condition when the pipe overall is in excellent form. I can only assume that it was kept in a very humid environment and was not cleaned after smoking, allowing the moisture to rust.
@tuold - That bulldog is a beauty!

 

[ejames]

Griffon, the mortise is the hole in the shank. That silver ring would not be on the shank unless it had an Ajustomatic stem. They did make some Riviera's with the Ajustomatic stem but believe me,that pipe does not have the Ajusto. If it did there would be a female threaded( aluminum) fitting in the shank.

The Riviera, Lark and I believe some Dukes are the only Sparta made pipes with a non filter push type stem,the rest are filter pipes or screw type Ajustos with a stinger.

 

[griffonwing]

Thanks for the pics, ejames. I suppose, then, that I will simply keep it as is. The bowl and stem are currently on my kitchen counter while I am at work, so I have not had a chance to try and make any changes to it. I will see how easily the two come together again since they are now back to room temp.

 

[ejames]

tuold, that bulldog looked like in your pic that it might be one of these,which are very hard to find.

 

[ejames]

griffon, there are some exception to what I said about Grabow stems. From 1992 until 2006 Grabow was owned by Lane Limited. During this period they made some strange combinations, such as sandblasted Grand Dukes and push stem Eldorados. If you see a strange Grabow--blame it on Lane. :lol:

 

[seagullplayer]

Nothing fancy or old, all these have be bought new in the last year or so. My youngest son came in for Christmas with his new bride. (He is military) I let him pick and he took the bent lark on the bottom.
They all smoke great, only type pipe my father ever owned.