I'm sure you guys all have stories about a particular pipe, and why it is special to you. The rather beaten up pipe below has been through the wars with me.

It is a lowly Medico bent apple, and has always smoked well. Granted as a youngster, I only owned two pipes. Anyway - this was my favorite. It went through military conscription with me, surviving basic training and deployment in Namibia and an unnamed neighbor to the North.

It was a neat tie to home. I would be sent packs of Borkum Riff Black Cavendish, which I would carefully ration. It fitted quite nicely in my thigh pocket of my browns.

It went on to be my companion through residency - helping me stay awake when on call or reading voluminous texts and journals. I stopped smoking in the mid nineties, but didn't have the heart to throw it out.

Anyway - for some reason I brought it (although not its companion) to Canada. I recently dug it out.

The pouch is dried out over the years in storage.

I gave the pipe a cursory clean and lit it up, and she smoked as smooth as ever. The briar smokes a little hot, but is quite comforting in the hand, and feel is so very familiar.

I'm considering restoring it, and wondered if I should just clean it and leave the battle scars, or fully restore it to something one can smoke in public!

I have several much prettier and more expensive pipes, but this will always be my favorite!

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Well I would say leave it as it is. Seeing that you have such fond memories and could be even one of them pipes that can help you recall some of your smoking days with the marks that are on it. Removing the marks may make the memory fade of that tme and event.

James
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Neil,

I would leave it as it is. It tells a story to other and reminds you of the times.
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I'm gonna recommend something different; why not restore it to its former beauty, or better. Give it a chance to be beautiful again. :-)
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Was passed along a couple of Brighams from my FIL, which he smoked in the 70s.
Had them refurbished and restemed by a guy who worked in the factory here in Toronto before production moved offshore. He even drilled out the metal piece in the stems and replaced them in the new ones and repinned them. They smoke wonderfully and still among my favourites. Here they are as I received them.

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Awesome story! I think you should leave it as is, and even smoke it in public. Thanks for sharing.
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nutcracker that is a great story to your pipe and glad you shared. I don't have any pipe stories but maybe someday I will. My two favorite pipes are 1970's German Hiebe pipes that I acquired unsmoked.
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nice pipes.

I have a Les Wood Ferndown, that was custom made for me. He is actually a good friend of mine and this pipe has "bubbleheaddiver" carved into bottom of bowl. I actually have 2 made like this from Les. One is a Rhodesian and other is a bent Bulldog. Image
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That is beautiful! I love spigots.
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I have an interesting Peterson 307 Smooth, P-Lip with some travel time on it. Bought the pipe from SmokingPipes.com a few years back. Really impeccable condition with nice grain and holds an hours worth of good pipe smoke. Inside the box, I found the original receipt for the pipe when bought new. Seems the pipe was manufactured in Ireland, as expected and was bought by it's first owner in Hong Kong under British rule. The pipe then traveled to the UK and eventually found it's way to South Carolina in the good ole US of A. Then this boy from Florida bought said pipe and it has been home here in FL for the past 5 or so years. Damn pipe's travelled more than I have! :-)
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