Well it's getting cold out here, which makes cigar smoking a PITA. Perfect time to try out pipe smoking. I went rummaging around down in the storage room and found the box I KNEW was lurking back in the corner, all but forgotten about. My Grandfather's pipes, dormant for 15 years.

With the exception of the last one, ALL of them are used and dirty. Not pictured is a pack of pipe cleaners, a pipe tamper, and moderately smoked Dunhill Meerschaum which is hiding at the moment. I don't know a think about the pipes. Some are unmarked, some have nice looking names, some have countries like Italy and Turkey (predominantly Italy). Only a single cob in there. Predominantly strait pipes as opposed to curvy. My grandfather was Sicilian and had money, so he purchased whatever the hell he wanted, which could have been NICE... and could have been not so nice, who the hell knows! I have NO idea what kind of baccy he smoked in em.

So uhhh.... now what? I've got a GREAT tobacco shop 4 blocks from me thats been in the same spot for over 100 years, so I've got a good source for baccy and knowledgeable staff. Needless to say I have lots of exploration ahead, and I've been scouring the net reading pipe101 guides.... which mostly assume you're not starting where I am starting.... so any advice specific to where I'm at??:-)

Image


Image


Image


Image
[Reply]

Your gonna have a heck of a lot of fun learning. I'm a newb so I haven't a clue...but you got some great pipes there. Good luck on the road ahead.
[Reply]

Information on basic care and cleaning.

Information on refurbishing old pipes.

Information on removing off flavors.
[Reply]

Wow.

See the FAQ and Shape Chart links at the top/left of this page for more info still. :-) http://www.aspipes.org/

You have a lot to choose from. Start your cleaning experiments on something, uh, less special. Which is that? Ask. Stems on most (but not all - Kaywoodies in particular) pipes are intended to be twisted off (and put back on, too) in a clockwise direction. If something won't budge with only gentle force, stop and ask. There are tricks for unsticking things without snapping stems or shanks. (Don't mess with the Dunhill 'til you know what it is and how to fiddle with it properly.) If you lay in some olive oil, a reamer, some MicroMesh paper (3000 to 12000 grit), cotton balls, Everclear and Halcyon or Paragon pipe wax they can all look like new (before winter is over, maybe. :-) )

I would be a kid in a candy shop with that collection. Have fun.
[Reply]

That is cool. I'm envious.
Thats one reason I go to garage sales, in hopes of finding a box full of pipes like that.
Give this stem cleaner a try. Works great.
http://www.walkerbriarworks.com/html...store_kit.html
[Reply]

nice find Francis!
[Reply]

VERY nice collection there francis....
first thing you want to do, judging from the pics is give many of those pipes a good reaming....if there is not a reamer in the accessories you found with them, the pipe shop can sell you one...
that meershaum is a beaut and a very valuable collectors item....and there may well be some other similar ones in there....any names like dunhill, savinelli, costello, (most of the italy ones) are all very good pipes....then find a couple of the less valuable ones, i.e. kaywoodie and start with those as far as reaming and cleaning....

you can also probably get some good samplers of tobacco at your pipe shop to experiment with flavors until you find one you like best.

good luck, enjoy....im envious of that collection...:-)

p.s. you can always send em to me.....:-)
[Reply]

Looked like PaPaw smoked one until it needed to be reamed and then got a new one. If so, lucky Savo'Stick.

Further to that, Savor' - if you get a reamer take care NOT to use it on the meerschaums and risk damaging the clay. Also, some of those briar pipes may have meerschaum-lined bowls - examine the pipes before reaming to avoid crunching clay. I made that mistake once and still feel bad about it.
[Reply]

Umm, I'd say that each of them needs a cleaning treatment. We could tell you how, but maybe the shop owner or someone there would walk you through it. They might also be able to smell the pipes and finger out what was smoked in each.

They'd also be able to set you up with some baccy to try.

This isn't to push you off. Instead, it is really an attempt to get you the best help.
[Reply]

looks like that's EXACTLY what he did. A number of them have a hell of a buildup on them (too much) and many of them still have a half-smoked charred bowl loaded up!

No worries Rev, I totally understand :-). I also get that this will be a BIG project. Good news is I only need a few to smoke now, I can take my sweet and careful time restoring the nice ones into proper condition. Hardest part is going to be identifying the different grades and which ones are worth the extra attention to. But I'll get there... a long sitdown with the local baccy shoppe is almost certainly in order. I just got back from there and picked up a few 1oz bags of random baccy that looked interesting, I'll experiment in the one pipe that I've got cleaned out that doesnt look too expensive :-)

LOTS of info posted in the links, thanks, I'll be doing a bit more reading before I continue with my questions :-)
[Reply]

Wow! Excellent find! I am also very envious!
[Reply]

If you want an easy way to clean the insides, the best thing to do is get a good reamer - take the cake (that's the carbon buildup) and ream it down to about 1/16 - 1/8 of an inch. That's step 1 for the inside.

For the outside, take some pure grain alcohol (or even isopropyl if you don't have the liquor - but this is for the outside top rim only), and a paper towel - fold the paper towel into quarters and then soak the center to the size of a fifty cent piece. Now take a pipe and apply the bowl rim to the wet spot - apply the palm of your hand to the opposite side of the towel - using plenty of elbow grease, rotate back and forth. Repeat this process until it looks good.

The outside of the bowel and the stem you might be able to fix up down at the local tobacconist. They may have a polishing wheel and be willing to show you how to clean up the bowels and stems. Be careful - I have had a pipe come out of my hand using a wheel. It can hit you in strange spots and/or break the pipe.

Good luck and God's blessigns.
[Reply]

Wow, Francis!!

A month or so back, we were chatting in late-night banter and I suggested that you start smoking a pipe on your walk home, instead of smoking those Parodi's :-) ....and you mentioned that you only had one pipe.

So, I started looking for a couple of pipes to send to you... :-) ...Something tells me that I don't need to look any longer!! :-)

The guys who hang out here in the pipe area, are extremely knowledgable about pipes and tobacco! You'll be enjoying your pipe(s) soon!

Also, there's a ton of great advice in the posts above! Mister Moo has helped me with a number of subjects over the past few months, as well as giving me a good shove down yet another slope! :-)


Enjoy, my good friend!! I'm very envious of your collection!! :-)
[Reply]

That meer is puuuurty :-) Nice collection there Franchise :-)

Smoke away brother
[Reply]

hmmm... looking at his pipes, A LOT of them seem to have a narrow and deep bowl. Could he have been a flake smoker?
[Reply]

<<< Majorly Jealous!!!


I like the hand-holding-bowl one (second photo, right side).
Looks like it might be Meer, along with possibly the bottom left corner of third photo too.

I've forgotten more than I've learned. Yowzers!
Nice links
[Reply]

That makes two of us. I saw that shape in what I took to be
another's collection yesterday, and I instantly had a jealousy freakout. Now I see
what might be another one. I know, it was in the picture thread. I will look for it.
I love that shape and wish I had one. (YUP, it was KGraybill Pg.8 pic thread)
I am not sure it isn't IVORY? If not it is old Meerschaum, but it sure is an even
tone in both examples. Would people have SMOKED out of Ivory? Hmmm.

One thing is clear, by the time you have dicked around and cleaned up a pipe or two
and gotten the hang of it, you should be a flatout expert in the do's and don'ts if you
ever makeit to the end of the job. MAN that's some pipes!!

I might be willing to trade a box of nice cigars for that hand-held Meerschaum bowl.
[Reply]

I say send em to Mr. Moo along with a bunch of his favorite tins. His restore jobs seem to be rather nice.
[Reply]

Some good info on restoring here: http://oldtoby.com/virtualsmokingloungerestoration.php. Videos right on the page. The site itself closed the guy running it had some family things to take care of. He gave quite a bit of info out in his podcast on restoring pipes. Sorry mods if this is out of line to post here.
[Reply]

Wow...that's a helluva find, Francis...since you're new to pipe smoking I'd reconsider trying to refurbish any of those yourself without knowing whether the pipe is a good one or not...perhaps list the names here (or at least the ones that have names and are readable) so we can give you a bit of guidance as to what you've got...then I think if it were me, I'd take a couple of the decent ones and send them to Dave Wolff, above, at Walker Briar Works, for cleaning, sterilizing, and general refurbishing...he does great work...if you want to try your hand at it yourself, good luck, and make sure you start on what would be called basket pipes...the kind you used to find for $10-$15 in a basket, in a pipe store, i.e., the low end ones...you might have a few there with some value in them once they're restored...
[Reply]