Even as I begin this project, I’m not sure if this Big-Ben Crosley is going to come out on the other side ready to go again. It came to me in February 2019 as part of a Lot of 68 pipes from a seller in West Hartford, Connecticut. My final bid was sufficient and the …
The pipe that is now on the worktable is truly a unique shape. It came to me from a pipeman who donated several pipes to benefit the Daughters of Bulgaria, now called, Spring of Hope. He was also thinning his collection and the benefactors of this are those seeking to commission pipes from the For …
Continue reading A Rim Rescue for a Tennessean Comeaux USA CC S 05 ‘Dublinesque’ Lovat
The next pipe on the worktable came to me from a pipeman in nearby Lakewood, Colorado. I met him when I responded to a Facebook Marketplace ad for a Zero Gravity recliner. When I went to his house to eyeball the recliner, I pulled up to the driveway and saw a pipeman in his comfy …
Continue reading New Beginnings for a Preben Holm Ben Wade Deluxe Hand Made Denmark Freehand
The Lot of 66, as I have called it, was probably my first large acquisition of pipes. I saw the Lot on eBay in September 2017. The by-line by the seller in Georgetown, Texas, was this: “Huge Lot of 66 Smoking Pipes, Pre-Owned, Pre-Smoked and Deeply Loved.” The final tag caught my attention. The seller …
Continue reading Reclaiming the legacy of a Comoy’s Made in London England P510 – D Billiard
My wife and I have been traveling and it’s good to be back to the worktable. We did a camping road trip from Colorado to Orange County, California, to visit our youngest daughter and her family. As is our custom, we pulled our small travel trailer and visited many fabulous places going and coming back. …
Continue reading Revisiting the Provenance of a Pipe Pub Imported Briar Zulu
I’m on a roll with a Lot of 7 pipes I found on a picking expedition in August 2021 when my wife and I were visiting our home of 15 years in Bulgaria. We returned to see friends and we decided to go to the Black Sea coast for some much-needed holiday. We found ourselves …
Continue reading New Life for a Classy Big-Ben Royal-Silver 445 Made in Holland
The next pipe on the table brings back very good memories. Our 15 years living in Sofia, Bulgaria, provided many opportunities to visit our neighbor to the south, Greece. One such visit was in April 2018 when I attended a conference on better understanding of the Eastern Orthodox Church and its impact on Eastern European …
Continue reading Pipe Picking in Athens, Greece – An Unbranded Slightly Bent Oval Shank Billiard
The next pipe on the worktable came to me in the Lot of 68. In February 2019 a seller located in West Hartford, Connecticut, placed this lot on eBay and my final bid won the day. These pipes were placed in the ‘For “Pipe Dreamers” ONLY! online collection where pipemen and women can find and …
Continue reading New Life for a Savinelli Punto Oro 602 Italy Bent Egg
After some time, I’m finally back to the worktable. The detour from the worktable came in the form of driving a 26’ U-Haul truck from Golden, Colorado, to Mission Viejo, California. My wife and I helped our daughter, and her family make the move to sunny Southern California where our son in law found a …
Continue reading Refreshing an Unbranded Italian Rusticated ‘Seahorse’ Finish Volcano
Well, after about a month of fighting off sickness and finally getting some antibiotics, I’m able to get back to the restoration of this Barok Pickaxe. Here we go! The next pipe on the worktable came to me in what I call the Lot of 68 that I acquired in February of 2019 from a …
The Pipe Steward 