Then came the stem. I couldn't believe all the crap that came out of that little guy... Wound up using about 12-15 cleaners before I was satisfied... but as you can see, it turned out fine... I was also able to get out about 99% of the chatter...
Well, am I stupid or what? Don't answer that question... I fat fingered this smartphone and put this pipe in the wrong thread! Naturally it should have been posted under PIPE REFINISHING... My apologies to all...
Dropped into a second hand store today and found this 24 pipe rack sitting in front of the store. It's filthy dirty and will need some TLC to bring it back to life, but once I turned it over and saw it was a Decatur (solid walnut), I couldn't get the 4 bucks out of my wallet fast enough! Anyway, just brought it home and decided to share...
Have to admit, my stumbling around flea markets, antique malls, etc. has been pretty unproductive for the past four or five months. I think people are beating me to the good buys.
@PappyJoe the last antique store I stopped in, I asked the owner if he had any estate pipes. He told me that women keep buying them up as fast as he gets them in. I found that odd since I highly doubt they are smoking them. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
@Zouave If they are women like my wife, they buy them for their husbands, boyfriends, etc. Most of the estate pipes I own were found by my wife and then pointed out to me.
My wife and I stopped into a little antique store near us that we hadn't visited in a while. I found an interesting little pipe with a great sandblast for $5. No markings only an odd little oval on the bottom of the bowl. Doesn't really look like a GBD oval and there are no letters in it. Cleaned up great and is a dandy smoker!
That 24 two-tiered pipe rack I found back on Nov 9 for 4 bucks, (check out those pics), well I finally got around to cleaning, sanding and staining it. Here it is now...
Friday night my wife and I went to The Lake County Antique & Vintage Market ... sort of a traveling antique show with about 75 vendors ... and I discovered a beautiful pipe, which is now added to my collection. The seller was the son of the man who owned the pipe. There were about two dozen pipes in the collection ... but this particular one caught my eye. The Vendor said his father passed away this year at 97 ... and had been an avid pipe smoker since he was 16. So I really didn't know how old the pipe was.
Once I got home and had access to a magnifying glass I discovered the pipe to be a Linkman's Dr. GraBow. I've had a lot of Dr. Grabow's in my life but never heard of a Linkman's Dr. GraBow before, so I did a little research on it. I never saw such a large Dr. Grabow pipe before. It requires a Churchwarden style pipe cleaner to get through to the bottom of the bowl.
Back to the markings.
On one side of the pipe it reads Linkman's Dr. GraBow (with the B capitalized), the opposite side read De Luxe in fancy script (and underneath that is the word 'Bruyere' ... which I assumed to be the word briar spelled differently). The style was #9722A. And the underside of the shank was Pat. No. 1896800. There is a small shield etched into the stem.
I searched the internet and discovered the pipe was circa 1938. This is without a doubt the oldest pipe in my collection.
It looked great on the outside ... but boy it required about three dozen pipe cleaners, half dozen QTIPS, alcohol, and small bottle of Decatur Briar-Fresh airway cleaner to get out the gunk and make it smokable. I had to remove the stinger because it was plugged solid with a hard tar like substance.But after about two hours of work I got the pipe clean as a whistle - and after waiting another hour or so had my first smoke in it ... and it smoked like a champ.
I hate stingers, and it's hard as Hell to run a pipe cleaner through a stem with a stinger, but this can't be helped ... and I'm sure not going to destroy the original condition of the pipe. I'll just have to make allowances and keep it extra clean between smokes.
And best of all it only cost me $18.00.
Since it's a vintage Dr. GraBow I thought I'd pair it with a vintage tin of unopened Bond Street tobacco provided to me by my good friend Ken @Kmhartle. Thanks again Ken ... it's a beauty.
Congratulations @ghostsofpompeii on such an awesome find! I'm really happy for you. With that great background story, it reinforces the idea that we don't own any pipes... they are simply on "loan" to us and will be passed on to another brother of the briar after we ourselves pass on... Anyway, sure would like to see more pics of that great find...
Found these at an estate sale yesterday. Not a great find, but for a total of 19 bucks, I took them home. In order left to right: Wellington system Kaywoodie Standard 80B Medico with lucite stem Medico Frank ? Astor Bantam 621 DUNHILL rack ! Not bad again for $19...
This has absolutely nothing to do with pipes, but I just had to share. Estate sale, found an original 1956 release of Carl Perkins "Blue Suede Shoes" on the infamous SUN label (catalog number 234). Don't know yet if I'll clean it until I research that subject. I will definitely box frame it for display...
After I spent a few bucks at the local pipe & cigar shop, I checked out a second hand store and found a basket of pipes. Most were junk, but found this one for $8. It's a Missouri Meerschaum Radio bent acorn with a diamond shank. I nursed it back to life and here's the result... Not sure what it's worth, but I'll try to get some idea somehow...
Comments
Very nice restorations. They are looking great.
Contrary to popular belief here, smoking a pipe does not necessarily make one intelligent.
I fat fingered this smartphone and put this pipe in the wrong thread!
Naturally it should have been posted under PIPE REFINISHING...
My apologies to all...
That little Lovat looks great.....no matter what thread it’s under🙂
I had a "brain glitch" moment is why it was misdirected. Probably why I didn't register the quote marks around realistic.
It's filthy dirty and will need some TLC to bring it back to life, but once I turned it over and saw it was a Decatur (solid walnut), I couldn't get the 4 bucks out of my wallet fast enough!
Anyway, just brought it home and decided to share...
If they are women like my wife, they buy them for their husbands, boyfriends, etc. Most of the estate pipes I own were found by my wife and then pointed out to me.
No luck identifying the artist at pipephil.eu
but Google images says it’s a “metal working tool.”
Here it is now...
With that great background story, it reinforces the idea that we don't own any pipes... they are simply on "loan" to us and will be passed on to another brother of the briar after we ourselves pass on...
Anyway, sure would like to see more pics of that great find...
Wellington system
Kaywoodie Standard 80B
Medico with lucite stem
Medico Frank ?
Astor Bantam 621
DUNHILL rack !
Not bad again for $19...
Estate sale, found an original 1956 release of Carl Perkins "Blue Suede Shoes" on the infamous SUN label (catalog number 234).
Don't know yet if I'll clean it until I research that subject.
I will definitely box frame it for display...
WOW
Just WOW
What a find!!!!!!!!!!
It's a Missouri Meerschaum Radio bent acorn with a diamond shank.
I nursed it back to life and here's the result...
Not sure what it's worth, but I'll try to get some idea somehow...