Hi folks: My first post. I've been away from pipe smoking for several years, replacing them with cigars. I never really learned how to keep a pipe lit or smoke cool, etc although I loved the flavors and aroma. I've decided to take it up again to see if I can master the art this time.
A friend, hearing about this, gave me some pipes his father had owned. They obviously have been cellar dwellers for at least 15 years, but several seem worth reviving. There is a Dunhill 4 EK F/T A "Dunhill Bruyere' with one white dot on the stem=scorched around the rim but otherwise quite beautiful. There are also three from the "American Pipe Co.", which look more than a cut above the average. They are marked 9/98, 93 and 9/83-all with "MT" stamped after the dates. They are all unpolished. (American Pipe must have set up after I stopped smokikng pipes in the late 1980s). There is also a GBD WERA(?) and a Barck. Finaly, there are al,so one plain billiard meerschaum that my friend think is a Peterson, although I don't remember Peterson being in the meerschaum business.
I'm not interested in selling them, but if some of these are "high-end" and (therefore) likely to be good smokers. what do I do? Simply clean them out with Everclear or vodka, let them dry and smoke away? Or send some or all of them to a pipe restorer/repairer? (They look like they haven't been smoked or cleaned since the Grant administration. Much mold, dust, dirt and carbon).
I've used the search function to read about cleaning estate pipes, but these look pretty toxic, although not damaged (except for the tenon on the meerschaum). If you advise restoring/repairing, recommendations on dependable people to do it would be most welcome.
Thanks in advance for your advice-
Joshua S.
A friend, hearing about this, gave me some pipes his father had owned. They obviously have been cellar dwellers for at least 15 years, but several seem worth reviving. There is a Dunhill 4 EK F/T A "Dunhill Bruyere' with one white dot on the stem=scorched around the rim but otherwise quite beautiful. There are also three from the "American Pipe Co.", which look more than a cut above the average. They are marked 9/98, 93 and 9/83-all with "MT" stamped after the dates. They are all unpolished. (American Pipe must have set up after I stopped smokikng pipes in the late 1980s). There is also a GBD WERA(?) and a Barck. Finaly, there are al,so one plain billiard meerschaum that my friend think is a Peterson, although I don't remember Peterson being in the meerschaum business.
I'm not interested in selling them, but if some of these are "high-end" and (therefore) likely to be good smokers. what do I do? Simply clean them out with Everclear or vodka, let them dry and smoke away? Or send some or all of them to a pipe restorer/repairer? (They look like they haven't been smoked or cleaned since the Grant administration. Much mold, dust, dirt and carbon).
I've used the search function to read about cleaning estate pipes, but these look pretty toxic, although not damaged (except for the tenon on the meerschaum). If you advise restoring/repairing, recommendations on dependable people to do it would be most welcome.
Thanks in advance for your advice-
Joshua S.
