Two Birthday Estate Pipes.

[cgrd]

It was recently my birthday, and I got two estate pipes as gifts. I did some basic clean-up on them.

The Birks Regency had a huge amount of cake...I could barley get a BIC pen inside the bowl!

The Hardcastle "Jack O'London" was in pretty good shape, just a quick scrape of the bowl and took some of the grime off.

While there's a lot of information on Hardcastle pipes, I couldn't really find anything on the Birks Regency pipes. Any help there?
Bonus Pic - the whole family

 

[xrundog]

I like the Jack O' London. It probably predates Dunhill buying the company. Sweet grain too!

 

[jpmcwjr]

Sorry can't help with ID here, but one question: Did you literally scrape the hard castle, and with what? Had you tried other methods of removing grime before?

 

[cgrd]

jpmcwjr, sorry if I was unclear - scraped the inside of the bowl, with a very sharp pocket knife. I don't have a reamer, but I've found that using a sharp knife and being gentle removes a good amount of carbon/cake without damaging the bowl.
I use the small blade on this knife (not my picture).

Does the job well, and it's easy to control the depth. Were I working on pipes more often, I'd certainly invest in a reamer.
As for the exterior I did the following

• Rubbed on a bit of Murphy's oil
  
• Used a chamois to buff the pipe by hand.
  
• Gently wiped off the oil soap with a slightly damp cloth
  
• Used a clean chamois to dry the pipe

Then I hand buffed the pipe & stem with a beeswax & mineral oil mixture. All told, I was able to get both pipes done in under 1 hour.

 

[fnord]

Cgrd:
You did good, man, really good.
I'm head over heels in love with that Jack O' London. Did out that ugly piece of putty and call it good with everything happening on that bowl. That's character, pure and simple.
Your overall shot displayed a beautiful two button Brigham for folks with dentures. Spend a few extra bucks, Cgrd, and get a stem that fits your mouth properly. You'll make a burner for life there.
Fnord

 

[ssjones]

I love a birthday pipe, two is even better!

 

[newbroom]

One of the first items of pipe paraphernalia I picked up was an inexpensive stainless steel 'scraper/reamer'.

It's called a Buttner reamer, and it has worked marvelously. I've used it on all my estate pipes that didn't arrive unsmoked, pretty much. It shows no sign of breaking down or wearing out. Just as with pacing yourself as you enjoy a bowl of tobacco, so should you pace yourself with any pipe maintenance.