Some pipes

[cotedupy]

My gran passed away recently and have just come across some old pipes belonging to her husband, my grandfather. I don’t smoke a pipe, but perhaps one day I shall!

I was wondering if anyone might be able to tell me anything (at all) about them, the first couple in particular...

Would this little one be ceramic / clay? I assume ‘Raleigh’ is a reference to Sir Walter?

I’m not sure what this one’s made out of at all. Could the bowl be bone? Or some kind of light wood? The stem seems to be either plastic or horn...?

This is from Astleys of Jermyn St.

Peterson’s of Dublin. Which is nice because I went to Dublin university back in the day and bought the occasional cigar at Peterson’s.

And then a quite old looking one that someone’s had to put a bit of metal round because the wood was breaking by the look of it (?)

They’ve all still got the 40 year old burnt remnants of the last smokes in them, so any advice on what to do for cleaning would be appreciated too! Ta.

 

[Price]

The second pipe is meerschaum, and the stem appears to be amber.

In the Gentleman's Guide to the Leaf thread in the stickies are some linked threads showing you how to clean those up.

 

[luvmysuper]

Some very nice examples there!

 

[gpjoe]

My gran passed away recently and have just come across some old pipes belonging to her husband, my grandfather. I don’t smoke a pipe, but perhaps one day I shall!

I was wondering if anyone might be able to tell me anything (at all) about them, the first couple in particular...

Would this little one be ceramic / clay? I assume ‘Raleigh’ is a reference to Sir Walter?

View attachment 1512223


I’m not sure what this one’s made out of at all. Could the bowl be bone? Or some kind of light wood? The stem seems to be either plastic or horn...?

View attachment 1512225

View attachment 1512226


This is from Astleys of Jermyn St.

View attachment 1512228


Peterson’s of Dublin. Which is nice because I went to Dublin university back in the day and bought the occasional cigar at Peterson’s.

View attachment 1512227


And then a quite old looking one that someone’s had to put a bit of metal round because the wood was breaking by the look of it (?)

View attachment 1512229



They’ve all still got the 40 year old burnt remnants of the last smokes in them, so any advice on what to do for cleaning would be appreciated too! Ta.

Very nice to have some keepsakes from grandpa. Sorry about the loss of your grandma.

 

[cotedupy]

The second pipe is meerschaum, and the stem appears to be amber.

In the Gentleman's Guide to the Leaf thread in the stickies are some linked threads showing you how to clean those up.

Some very nice examples there!

Very nice to have some keepsakes from grandpa. Sorry about the loss of your grandma.

Cheers guys! Sounds like I should be reading up about how to clean up and restore a bit .

I’d never even heard of meerschaum before tbh, but yep - that’s clearly what it is, now that I’ve googled it. The slightly porous appearance when looked at from the top was what made me think of bone. The stem could well be amber; the reason I said possibly plastic was that it doesn’t look all that much like horn to me, but again - I had no idea that pipe stems would be made out of amber.

 

[Price]

Cheers guys! Sounds like I should be reading up about how to clean up and restore a bit .

I’d never even heard of meerschaum before tbh, but yep - that’s clearly what it is, now that I’ve googled it. The slightly porous appearance when looked at from the top was what made me think of bone. The stem could well be amber; the reason I said possibly plastic was that it doesn’t look all that much like horn to me, but again - I had no idea that pipe stems would be made out of amber.

View attachment 1512303

It may be acrylic, but judging just from the photo and estimated age, I'd almost bet that it's amber.

Also, as has been noted, a little bit of work will turn those briars into top flight smokers (maybe not the cracked bowl, but the other two for sure).

Best of luck - make sure to drop back in and show us the results!

 

[Kentos]

Very nice to have your grandfather’s pipes.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Cheers guys! Sounds like I should be reading up about how to clean up and restore a bit .

I’d never even heard of meerschaum before tbh, but yep - that’s clearly what it is, now that I’ve googled it. The slightly porous appearance when looked at from the top was what made me think of bone. The stem could well be amber; the reason I said possibly plastic was that it doesn’t look all that much like horn to me, but again - I had no idea that pipe stems would be made out of amber.

Arthur Conan Doyle in one of the Holmes stories has Sherlock mention amber stems, and how pipesellers and pipemakers have put across the idea that an amber stem is not authentic unless it has a fly in it -- real or not. "It is quite a bit of trade, marketing the sham flies in the sham amber." So apparently the use of the product goes back a ways.

I really like the Astley's pipe for sure.

 

[CANES]

The first one looks like a clay to me. The meerschaum's stem is possibly bakelite.

 

[cotedupy]

It may be acrylic, but judging just from the photo and estimated age, I'd almost bet that it's amber.

Also, as has been noted, a little bit of work will turn those briars into top flight smokers (maybe not the cracked bowl, but the other two for sure).

Best of luck - make sure to drop back in and show us the results!
,

I think you might be right... I tried heating a very thin piece of wire to check the smell last night - it’s quite resinous, slightly honeyed, and rather nice. Tbf I wouldn’t know what heated bakelite smells like, but I assume not this.

By coincidence earlier in the day I received an order of micro mesh sheets, which I see people like for pipes as well as metal polishing. So hopefully will be able to get them looking nice again after a bit of a clean. Will certainly post again once I’ve given them a bit of love.

Thanks again to you and others’ for your thoughts.

 

[cotedupy]

Have just found a picture of his rather nice gold Dunhill too, which I've had for a while now:

 

[luvmysuper]

Have just found a picture of his rather nice gold Dunhill too, which I've had for a while now:

View attachment 1512652

That's sweet right there. A beautiful lighter!

 

[cotedupy]

That's sweet right there. A beautiful lighter!

Cheers Phil! It’s really lovely that one, and I took it into Dunhill a few years back for a service so it’s in perfect working order.

I don’t really use all that much, for fear of losing like I do all my lighters, but will certainly be cracking it out when I first try out one of the pipes .

 

[Columbo]

Have just found a picture of his rather nice gold Dunhill too, which I've had for a while now:

View attachment 1512652

Your grandfather was a classy smoker.

Treasure the memories.

 

[ChefJohnBoy-ardee]

On that Peterson's... you have a decision to make. Polish up the silver or leave it tarnished and looking used? Golly, I imagine it has a ghost of latakia past. And I wouldn't be upset by that! It will be a beast smoker if the P-lip stem is to your liking.

 

[cotedupy]

On that Peterson's... you have a decision to make. Polish up the silver or leave it tarnished and looking used? Golly, I imagine it has a ghost of latakia past. And I wouldn't be upset by that! It will be a beast smoker if the P-lip stem is to your liking.

I think I'll probably polish the silver on that one, and the wood on that and the Astleys is in a pretty nice state already so shouldn't need too much doing to them I don't think.

Having said that, the only one I've got round to cleaning up so far though is the meerschaum and amber one. Cleaned out the insides then took the stem up to 12,000 micromesh so it's extremely polished now (god amber smells lovely when doing this!). But left the bowl quite low as I kinda wanted to preserve the patina, and a slightly grippier, more tactile finish is probably what you want I assume (?)

Now to find me some proper tobacco!

 

[luvmysuper]

Well, you live where some of the best pipe tobacco in the world is produced! Some of us wish dearly that we had access to some of the selection you have available (prices and taxes notwithstanding).

As an aside, you said "took the stem up to 12,000 micromesh so it's extremely polished now (god amber smells lovely when doing this!)"
I'm asking if that was an accurate assessment, or if it was a kind of sarcastic comment, because amber is reportedly quite pleasant when warmed or worked, or has no smell at all.
Horn on the other hand stinks to high heaven when worked. Like burning hair bad.

Ahhh, nevermind, I see you answered that in another thread already!

 

[cotedupy]

(prices and taxes notwithstanding).

Haha, yes indeed!

Anything in particular though you'd recommend / I should look out for when I do make it along to JJ Fox / Dunhill / other St James tobacconist...?

---

I just tried to compare the stem to a necklace my mother has of her grandmother's... and unfortunately the beads were very clearly glass. So I'm still marking it down as 'probable' amber for the time being.

 

[luvmysuper]

Haha, yes indeed!

Anything in particular though you'd recommend / I should look out for when I do make it along to JJ Fox / Dunhill / other St James tobacconist...?

---

I just tried to compare the stem to a necklace my mother has of her grandmother's... and unfortunately the beads were very clearly glass. So I'm still marking it down as 'probable' amber for the time being.

Samuel Gawith and Gawith Hoggarth have a stable that is the envy of many a manufacturer.
Rattray's from Germany or Petersons in the Emerald Isle are also quite good.
I'd suggest a nice Virginia leaf forward blend.
If you're just getting into pipe tobacco, maybe consider blends that are lighter on Perique or Latakia untill you get your legs under you.

 

[ylekot]

I did not know they made pipe stems from amber. That must be real nice.