Show Off Your LHS Pipes Here

[danielplainview]

 

[tuold]

Well, here's one of my favorites. It's the only one I have with a 14k gold ring instead of silver. Kind of a strange stinger too, but it smokes flawlessly.

 

[tuold]

Here's another I'm still working on. One of my favorite shapes.

 

[newbroom]

OK, here's a terrible laptop photo I just gotcha. My LHS Author, #266

L.H.S.

 

[pruss]

Here's my little LHS Sterncrest Scoop. Man do I love this pipe. When it came to me it was definitely showing age and use. I elected not to top the rim, to remove some of the love taps produced by the previous owner(s) as I felt like the provided a little character and sense of age/history to the pipe. I did, however, tint the pipe slightly by adding a couple drops of light brown leather dye to two tablespoons of isopropyl alcohol. This creates a really light tint, which serves to just rejuvenate tired briar.
Before:


After:






-- Pat

 

[jpmcwjr]

Very nice. Like the rim just as is.
After the light stain, oil, wax, both, or what, please?

 

[pruss]

After the light stain, oil, wax, both, or what, please?

After tinting the pipe, I took it to the buffing wheel and hit it with "White Diamond" which is a super-fine abrasive. After white diamond I buffed the pipe with carnauba wax (also on the wheel); then finished with hand buffing with a Dunhill Pipe Wipe.
-- Pat

 

[danielplainview]

Good looking pipes guys. I posted resto pictures of these before, but I'll Post them again now that we have an official show off thread.
Sterncrest with sterling band

Superfine

 

[danielplainview]

I'd like to score an LHS Special Make. $25 in the 1940's was a pretty penny.

 

[tuold]

Here's a magazine ad from 1944. Five bucks in 1944 was equivalent to $67.00 in today's money.

 

[danielplainview]

Tuold, I've never seen the LHS stamping on the right of the pipe like yours before. Very interesting. Anything on the left side?

 

[danielplainview]

 

[tuold]

Dave, no other stamping at all on the pipe other than a "99" on the bottom of the shank.Twenty bucks?! The version with the gold ring must be quite a bit more expensive. Everything else is the same though.
I won an auction last night for a 1930s LHS. Supposedly it is unsmoked. Normally I'd wait until the pipe is in hand and post my own pictures, but I'm too jazzed!

Won for eleven bucks. I almost feel guilty....

 

[tuold]

A couple more fine LHS pipes. Here's Superfine and a Purex.

The Superfine is a particularly well engineered pipe. It's well balanced and has good draw.

 

[danielplainview]

Good looking pipes. I like the smooth/rustic combo on the Superfine.

 

[tuold]

The old Bakelite LHS showed up this afternoon. I wish I had a light box setup to show off the translucency of the stem and shank assembly. There are only two stampings on the pipe, Bakelite on the top and the LHS logo on the silver ring.

 

[danielplainview]

That's a fine example. Great looking pipe. Pipephil might want to add a picture of your Bakelite to their archives. This is one make they do not have any information about yet. Btw, want to double your money for that one? ::

 

[danielplainview]

Information about L&H Stern pipe company is scarce to say the least, but I've been digging up some history about the company. Here's a little trivia for anyone who's interested.
Ludwig Stern began to manufacture pipes in 1893, and moved to the Brooklyn NY location in 1911. Everything including the gold and silver bands were made under one roof. Manufacturing departments, shipping departments, sales rooms, and executive offices were all located in the same building. Ludwig Stern insisted everything be made in the six story building for quality control purposes. At the peak of production in the 1940's, LHS offered over 500 different shapes and styles.

Interior pictures of the LHS factory circa 1940.

 

[tuold]

I really wish there were as much information on LHS pipes as there is for Kaywoodies. I appreciate your efforts, Dave, in digging this stuff up. I found a Japanese collector who has this same pipe. He says the gold band (I said silver earlier) is 18K gold.
Evidentially, the patent for Bakelite expired around 1927 and some pipe manufacturers such as LHS began using it about that time.
And I do appreciate the offer of doubling my money on it, but I think I'll enjoy having it for at least a little while. =)
Here's the Superfine bulldog I need to work on a bit. The stem is a little under rotated and the finish is a bit faded.

 

[tuold]

Here's a little baby Purex complete with a "P lip". Looks like it could use a bit of refinishing. Shouldn't be a problem.