Poorly treated Kilimanjaro.

Rebelheathen

Any advice?? Got this as part of an eBay estate sale  I thinks it’s really cool  and the history behind its African roots are cool too  I’d love to bring it back to its forme glory  I do have a game plan here but any input can only help  knowledge is power!!

motie2

@REBELHEATHEN - You sir have set yourself an ambitious goal.
My only advice would be to contact one of our top craftsmen, perhaps @Corey562, for advice.

RockyMountainBriar

Personally, I would ream the carbon back to Briar and go from there.

RockyMountainBriar

That looks like some darn hard carbon?  If it was meerschaum lined, it looks like it might have the bottom broken out.  In the pics it’s hard to tell, looks like carbon though🤔

motie2

Carbon? I fail to see anything like carbon....or cake, neh?

Rebelheathen

All the Kilimanjaros I’ve seen on the internet are meerschaum lined

PappyJoe

I would kick that one up to a higher authority and send it to them for restoration. Someone like BriarWorks for example. From the photos it looks like the pipe has an insert possible of briar or meerschaum that has to be removed and replaced. That's something that should only be attempted by one of the professionals in my opinion. 

Can we see a side photo of the pipe?

Rebelheathen

ghostsofpompeii

The pipe looks great so I'd invest a little more in it by having a pipe pro do something about the bowl. Or you could simply smoke it as it is. I had a Meerschaum lined bowl once that cracked and the pieces fell out - and the pipe never did smoke worth a damn afterwards. Since the bowl was now deeper without the added thickness of the Meerschaum lining the draft hole was no longer on the bottom of the bowl a bit higher. And as a result the tobacco at the bottom of the bowl wouldn't stay lit. I wasted about a third of a bowl ... and even then it was hard to keep the pipe going.

RockyMountainBriar

If it has/had a meerschaum lining, you could remove what is left and have a meerschaum insert blank made.  I think I purchased mine from VermontFreehand.com for something like $7?  If you take a look in “Pipe Refinishing” (March 14) here on the forum, you could see what a blank looks like.  You might be able to fit one yourself?  You can use a thin paste of powdered chalk and egg whites to secure it in the stummel.  After that sets hard all you have to do is drill out the chamber and airway.  I’ll give you a hint...you can use a drill bit (normal twist flutes) turning in reverse by hand or very slowly and carefully in a drill to keep from cracking out the meerschaum.  Start with small bits and work up slowly.  The more drill step sizes the better.

Rebelheathen

Thanks everybody for the advice!!!