My first Estate - the Mystery Pipe!

[Blackbeard's Delight]

Well as some of you may recall, I recently confessed my unnatural fear of estate pipes. I got a lot of supportive words from the gents here at The Brown Leaf. Well, call it what you will, but fate has played it's hand, and I am now a proud owner of an estate pipe!

I was digging through some of the junk in the basement here. We inherited some junk from the elderly prior owner of the house, who died a few years back. Anyway, I found this interesting looking pipe. The aluminum portion looks like an old Browning 50 cal... the bowl looks a little smallish, and appears to have a small face-hugger from the movie Aliens dead in it. It also doesn't look like it has seen much action... I don't really see any/much cake inside the bowl (under the cobwebs!). The stem doesn't appear to have any bites in it, though it looks like someone spray-painted something white nearby as there is white speckles on the stem.

I haven't done anything to it yet, even take it apart. I examined it though... and there isn't much info to go with. The aluminum portion is marked "Trailblazer" and the underside of the bowl says "authentic imported briar."

I did some google searches, and the only thing I found was a post on a smokers forum with someone who picked up a similar looking pipe, asking if anyone knows what it is. None of the reply posts have seen one before. You can read that forum post here. So a little bit of a mystery as to what I have stumbled across here.

Does anyone here recognize the brand "Trailblazer" or this style of pipe? I would love to know more about it. I'll upload some pics too so y'all can check it out. Any comments on it would be appreciated.

I am eager to get started on the restore too... though a little nervous at the same time. I don't think it will take a lot to make this one as good as new, so it may be the perfect 'starter' estate. I know the salt/alcohol treatment on the bowl takes a couple days so I am looking forward to getting that going. Any words of wisdom for me before I dig in? Thanks again for the guidance!

Here are some pics:

 

[jwhite]

ream down the cake and give it a good cleaning before the S/A treatment. Then clean it again. No point in trying to sweeten gunk you want out and some of the old goop, if there is any, that isn't easily removed will be able to be cleaned out after.

 

[Welshcitydragon]

Its an exhaust pipe from a old Ford

 

[Blackbeard's Delight]

ream down the cake and give it a good cleaning before the S/A treatment. Then clean it again. No point in trying to sweeten gunk you want out and some of the old goop, if there is any, that isn't easily removed will be able to be cleaned out after.

That is definitely the right plan. I want to get the bowl as clean as possible before the S/A. It appears there isn't much cake to speak of, but I'll know for sure when I start cleaning out the dust/cobwebs from the bowl.

Its an exhaust pipe from a old Ford

That is definitely true... I am wondering if I should track down an identical pipe for the other corner of my mouth... maybe I can shoot flame out of them when I peel out!

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A couple questions about the sweetening process... I know grain alcohol is usually used. Is there anything else that can be used? I am wondering if there's anything I have around the house already that I can use.

Also, would it be beneficial to do the S/A treatment more than once? Or is once enough? Seems like from the restore pics in the sticky that the salt gets so dark, I wonder if it was done again to get more gunk out? Or would that start to damage the bowl?

 

[Schmitz Bitz]

A word of advice; when it comes time to perform a S&A treatment, take a pipe-cleaner dipped in Vasoline (or other petrolium jelly) and thuroughly coat both the inside and outside of the aluminum airway. This will protect against corrosion and pitting.

When I am restoring old estates, I run cotton-ball (as opposed to salt) and alcohol as many times as it takes to pull out all the oils and tars - evidenced by the colour of the cotton when I remove it. I also like to stuff a pipe-cleaner into the airway, then pack the mortise with more cotton - you would be surprised how much crud hangs out in there! We don't have access to the ultra-high proof alcohols here in Canada, I use 99.9% Isopropyl Alcohol from the local pharmacy, applied with an eye-dropper to ensure I don't bork my finish.

 

[Blackbeard's Delight]

A word of advice; when it comes time to perform a S&A treatment, take a pipe-cleaner dipped in Vasoline (or other petrolium jelly) and thuroughly coat both the inside and outside of the aluminum airway. This will protect against corrosion and pitting.

When I am restoring old estates, I run cotton-ball (as opposed to salt) and alcohol as many times as it takes to pull out all the oils and tars - evidenced by the colour of the cotton when I remove it. I also like to stuff a pipe-cleaner into the airway, then pack the mortise with more cotton - you would be surprised how much crud hangs out in there! We don't have access to the ultra-high proof alcohols here in Canada, I use 99.9% Isopropyl Alcohol from the local pharmacy, applied with an eye-dropper to ensure I don't bork my finish.

Oh cool, I think we have Isopropyl in the house, so that saves me some time. How long do you leave in the cotton balls for? Seems like they would probably dry out faster than the salt. P.S. good use of the word Bork!

 

[Kazeryu]

We don't have access to the ultra-high proof alcohols here in Canada.

Yes we do.

 

[Argonaut]

Personaly, I'd ream that dude down to the briar, then salt/alcohol. But I've been known to destroy a pipe now and then.

 

[Schmitz Bitz]

Yes we do.

Where? I've been searching for something over 140 proof for ages here in B.C. with no avail. When I was working in the Charlottes, I would make trips up to Ak. to purchase grain alcohol; but since moving back to Vancouver, I've been using nothing but iso (I haven't found grain alcohol in Washington St. stores either).

I usually perform the cotton and alcohol treatment overnight.

Edit: Answered my own question - a couple of provinces do sell grain alcohol, including Alberta and Quebec. In B.C., Ontario and other provinces it is available with a medical/dental license, for research or industrial purposes. Wonder if I can convince the province I require 190 proof to research the effects of high-proof alcohol on removing foul oils and tars from a pipe.

 

[tattooed]

if it wasn't so tricky getting alcohol into canada through the mail, I'd send you some everclear. I'm 40 minutes from west virginia and they sell that stuff everywhere, even gas stations.

I make several trips a year to pick it up for various house hold things.

 

[Kazeryu]

Edit: Answered my own question - a couple of provinces do sell grain alcohol, including Alberta and Quebec. In B.C., Ontario and other provinces it is available with a medical/dental license, for research or industrial purposes. Wonder if I can convince the province I require 190 proof to research the effects of high-proof alcohol on removing foul oils and tars from a pipe.

Up until quite recently, Ontario sold an everclear equivalent. I think they also sell some 151 proof vodkas etc - maybe BC does too?