A New Button After Amputation for a Big-Ben Commodore 413 A S Made in Holland

The Big-Ben Commodore came to me in January of 2017 from a seller in Connecticut.  The Pear shape is unique, and I liked the oval shank with just a touch of bend for the stem.  The bid was sufficient and the Big-Ben made its way to the ‘For “Pipe Dreamers” ONLY!’ collection benefiting the Daughters …

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Fashioning a Replacement Stem for a French Gentleman No. 1 Rusticated Horn Pocket

This unique pipe came to me in what I have called the French Lot of 50.  I acquired it from the French eBay auction block and it has yielded many great collectable pipes for stewards who commissioned them from the For “Pipe Dreamers” Only! collection.  The picture below shows the French eBay seller’s presentation – …

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A Utah Camping Trip Restoration of an Unbranded Bent Dublin

My wife and I love to travel.  Ever since returning from living in Bulgaria for 15 years – and before that in Ukraine and Spain, our 30 years living in Europe has made it difficult to stay in one place for long.  This introduction is to serve as the backdrop for the next pipe on …

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Repairing 14 Fills to Revive this 70s/Pre-70s Savinelli 4015 Slim Dublin

The next pipe on the worktable is another interesting pipe that came from what I have called the Lot of 66.  These pipes became part of the ‘For “Pipe Dreamers” ONLY!’ online collection back in September of 2017.  The huge lot came from a charitable organization in Texas that has thrift stores where they take …

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A Rim Rebuild Resuscitating a Republic Era Peterson’s “Kildare” 86 Apple

This Republic era Kildare came to me in one of my first larger acquisitions in September of 2017 when I landed a lot of 66 pipes on the auction block.  The ‘Lot of 66’ came from an NGO in Texas called ‘The Caring Place’ – an organization that takes donations and resells to help the …

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Sprucing Up a Classy Savinelli Silver 111 KS Italy Billiard

It’s fitting that the next pipe on the worktable is another well-known Italian pipe name, Savinelli.  Pipe man Gary from North Carolina added this Italian to the Brebbia Portofino, which came out great.  In the research drilling down to understand the origins of the Brebbia Portofino line, I discovered that this production line was an …

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Discovering a 1950s Brebbia Portofino 830 Rock Natural Pear with the help of Luciano Buzzi of Brebbia Pipes

After a 1 month and 9-day road trip covering 1400 miles I’m finally back at the worktable.  My wife and I visited several churches, family and friends in our trek that went east from Colorado.  We pulled our Forest River R-pod and camped along the way.  In addition to our visits, we were able to …

Continue reading Discovering a 1950s Brebbia Portofino 830 Rock Natural Pear with the help of Luciano Buzzi of Brebbia Pipes

An Amazing transformation of a 1946/47 Design by Curtis Pat. Pend. Metal

Over the years, I have been both amazed and humbled by folks wanting to help the Daughters of Bulgaria through donating pipes to The Pipe Steward.  In January of 2019, my wife and I were still living in Bulgaria and the mother of Bonnie, one of our interns helping us in Sofia, brought pipes with …

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Rescuing a Dr. Grabow Regal Ajustomatic Pat. 2461905 Dublin

The next pipe on the worktable came to me in what I have named the St. Louis Lot of 26 in December of 2018.  My son Josiah was instrumental in finding this Lot in a local antique shop in St. Louis where he was living and studying at Covenant Theological Seminary.  We were still living …

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