This pipe was a challenge – more to come later…. The pipe on the table today is a nice-looking Prince. It has the right stem orientation, and the apple shaped bowl is on the petite side. I saw this Mastercraft Custom Made Prince on the online auction block in March of 2016, from a seller …
Continue reading Resuscitating a Mastercraft Custom Made Italy Prince (aka: ‘Pandora’s Pipe’)
The next pipe on the worktable was part of a Lot of 4 pipes that were on the online auction block from Giussago, Italy, in January of 2017. Three of the 4 pipes were similar in that they sported red, glossy shellac-like finishes. It seemed to point to the affinity of the former steward’s taste …
Continue reading Replacing a ‘Shellac-Candy Apple Finish’ for a Machiavelli Cambio Ball of Italy
The classic Gourd Calabash on the table came to me a few days before Christmas in 2018, when my wife and I were in the US from Bulgaria to celebrate the holidays with family. I was anxious to do some ‘pipe picking’ and so the family went on a ‘picking’ day together. One place we …
Continue reading Mending Shank Cracks to Revive a Gourd Calabash – Austria
The next pipe on the work table came out of the box with some obvious issues. The Chap Ecume had tape wrapped around the shank which is a sure sign of a crack or fracture of some sort. It came with the ‘French lot of 50’ I acquired from a seller in Paris, France, in …
Continue reading Rescuing a Chap Ecume of Saint-Claude: A Broken Shank and Meerschaum Lining Repair
The Savinelli Punto Oro on the table has special sentiment attached to it. It came from a friend and colleague in Bulgaria. Jacob is a husband and father and also a pipe man that knows his tobaccos and pipes. Whenever I have a question about trying a particular blend or brand, he’s the one I …
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 …
Continue reading A Utah Camping Trip Restoration of an Unbranded Bent Dublin
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 …
Continue reading A Rim Rebuild Resuscitating a Republic Era Peterson’s “Kildare” 86 Apple
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 …
Continue reading Sprucing Up a Classy Savinelli Silver 111 KS Italy Billiard
The next pipe is another treasure from the prized St. Louis Lot of 26 which has produced several pipes that have made their way to the collections of new stewards. The pipe on the worktable is marked with an arrow.I have shared the story several times as these pipes have come to the worktable. In …
Continue reading A Surprise Discovery of a Meerschaum Lining for a Sculpted Billiard of Italy
The next pipe on the worktable came from the US auction block in January of 2018, from a seller in Warsaw, New York. I was attracted to this pipe because of the distinctive sculpted rustication. The canted Dublin bowl and slight taper of the stem was also attractive to me. The final bid favored me, …
Continue reading Bringing Life to a Whitehall Gulf Stream Imported Briar Sculpted Dublin
The Pipe Steward 