Blog by Dal Stanton

One of the greatest challenges to me AND honors is to receive a request to restore a pipe that is a family’s heirloom.  It’s amazing how when a loved one passes from this life, the things they leave behind become present links to the memories of the past.  Pipes are favorite heirlooms because they hold an enormous sense of the presence of the loved one – the smell, marks left on the pipe, memories of the loved one sitting and reflecting with pipe in hand and a wink of the eye….  This was one of the reasons I took the name, The Pipe Steward, because of this strong sense of passing on something of great value – not just the physical pipe, but the memories and associations welded to that pipe’s presence.   Joe contacted me with a request for some pipes that hold this honor.  Joe…

Blog by Dal Stanton

Next on my worktable is another pipe I acquired from a ‘Lot of Treasures’ I found on French eBay.  This French Lot of 50 has rendered some real keepers with historic interest and collectability.  The EWA Trophee I’m now looking at is a classic Bent Billiard with a flare – the acrylic stem, banding and picturesque briar holds out great potential, but it come with some challenges as well.  Pipe man, Scott, commissioned the EWA – a friend on FB and regular contributor on different Face Book Groups, and a former US Navy man who I appreciate very much.  Scott reached out to me on FB Messenger and had been looking at the pipes available for commission in my For “Pipe Dreamers” Only! collection and there were 5 pipes he was dreaming about that he had seen, but settled on one, the EWA Trophee.  I appreciate…

Blog by Dal Stanton

One of the great things about restoring pipes and making them available to pipe men and women world-wide is that I have met very interesting people as they commission pipes and I correspond with them.  Toby is a returning customer from Germany.  He previously commissioned two Churchwarden creation projects where he intended one as a gift for his friend and the other was for himself.  I had fun with the write up, “A Tale of Three Churchwardens”, where I spun a story weaving in folklore, J.R. R. Tolkien and of course, a bit of Middle Earth and Gandalf.  Two of the three Churchwardens went to Toby and after he gifted his friend with his Churchwarden, Toby sent me a selfie of him and his friend blowing inspired smoke rings, each nursing a bowl in their Churchwardens together!  I’ve learned that Toby is a great guy…