last in this round is a dr. grabow starfire. this line is pretty well thought of, long out of rotation, and i had one that was a champ that someone else resto'd for me, so i picked this up on its own. plus, LOOK at it! it's a bad-ass classic straight bulldog! o)
now, here's why we take the effort to clean and restore pipes: some people suck. neither the previous owner, nor the seller (if it wasn't the same person), even bothered to scrape the damn tobacco out of the bowl. i mean, shit, how lazy can you be!
for those of you who do not knw, this is a stinger. it's a little metal widget protruding into the airflow, meant to disrupt the stream of smoke, cool it, and allow it to deliver drier and cleaner to the palate, and realistically makes pipes smoke wet and aggrivating with more relights and less enjoyment. they go in the trash. fortunately this one just pushed into the screw on tennon, and just needed a quick yank with some lineman's pliers to go bye-bye. if they are attached, you can cut them off, but think twice and be careful, as there is no UNcutting them.
and, to be fair, that is only my opinion. if they work for you, cool. but i consider stingers and filters to be like umbrellas in drinks: tacky and to be avoided at all costs.
stem was stepped through the micro mesh pads, two rounds of obsidian, and two of walker carnuba. i did NOT take any extra precaution to the spade marking on the stem, as i was not doing anything to invasive, nor was i working on anything too high value. were it a vintage comoy C, i might have sweated it more. see Dave for that. the bowl got two passes of halcyon II, and two of walker carnuba, hand applied and removed, with toothbrush polishing after. the rustication they did was deep, like they brushed it with razors or something, and i really didn't want to leave a chunk of polish wedged in that cool finish.
end result, it looks clean and happy. i don't know if imma keep it or not, but i would certainly bet it will be a performer for whoever winds up with it, once they get co for table with each other.
