Thread: Pipe of the Day

Smoking my homemade pipe

Good morning friends.
First pipe today:
Vauen- Meerschaum


Have a nice day

Home Made Freehand and a Ben Wade.

This one's especially for Sailor, who requested some pics and a description of my meer repair, done by Dave Wolff at Walker Briar Works.

First off, please excuse, this meer isn't really pretty. I've been smoking it for a little over 30 years now and I wasn't as inclined to take real good care of my pipes in my younger days as I am now.

Without any particular explanation, after several decades of steady smoking, traveling, and abuse, this meer developed a crack in the shank that quickly became many cracks within several hours. You can see below the extent of the cracking. A pipe shop guy recommended that I run superglue along the cracks to stabilize the cracks. It wasn't a pretty fix, but it did stop the pipe from cracking further for the time being.

But the tenon sleeve was now loose in the shank and the stem was completely unstable. The pipe became unsmokable. I sent Dave at WBW some pics and asked him if he thought he could repair it and he said he'd give it a try.

When Dave got it, he thought that the cracks were stabilized pretty well by the superglue I had used. If they had not been stable, he would have recommended putting a metal band around the shank where it meets the stem to hold the shank together and stabilize it. I thought that was a pretty slick idea just by itself.

Since the cracks were stabilized, he proposed a repair that would not require a metal band on the shank. He secured a new sleeve in the shank using heat activated epoxy. The repair not only solidly holds the sleeve in place, but it further stabilizes the shank from cracking further. The best thing is that the repair is totally reversible. Dave says he can remove the sleeve in the future if needed (though I don't know why I'd ever need to have it removed as long as this one holds). He also replaced the original tenon with a new one to match the new sleeve.

The repair feels very solid and I am able to remove the stem for cleaning, etc easily. While he had the pipe he also opened up the airway in the stem. He said the pipe would smoke like a completely different pipe after the improvement and he wasn't kidding. Before he opened the airway, this pipe would often smoke wet and it would gurgle. This has now all but eliminated that problem. The meer smokes effortlessly now. It was so different that it actually took me a few smokes to get used to the ease and balance of the draw. Now I just "think" about drawing on it and it smokes smooth and slow. The bowl seems to last a bit longer because I am smoking the pipe slower and more gently. It also seems that I can now pack the bowl tighter than before. That's good because the bowl has always been a bit on the small side.

It's great to have this "old friend" back and smoking better than ever, even if he is a homely looking old Sultan.

It did take a while to get the repair done as they're really busy with repairs from all over the place it seems, but Dave was a pleasure to deal with throughout and his skills are top notch. We've had several great email exchanges, and I even picked up a great U.S. made Edward's Canadian Estate pipe from him, and a new forever stem for an MM cob I recently bought during the process. By the way, if you haven't tried an MM cob with one of Dave's handmade stems on it, you're really missing a fine smoke. His stems turn those pipes into real fine smokers. The draw is just right and it gives the cob a higher quality feel overall. I don't think I'll smoke a cob without one again.

Sailor, I hope I covered the repair details clearly enough. I'm pretty impressed/amazed with the repair. I thought this meer was a goner. The old Sultan's not looking like royalty, but he sure smokes good!

Happy New Year, brothers.

Keith,

Congrats for having your old loyal friend back! Your pipe looks very good. Unless hadn't said so, it would be difficult to believe that it is 30 years old. The crack only gives more respect for this old warrior. Imho, it is always better to repair and not give up too easily. Real nice pipe!
I've never tried this kind of old meers with large figural bowl. I've been thinking that they must be pretty heavy, but seems that i've been wrong.

Gentlemen,

Not the last but one of the last pipes of the year 2011. Currently 6 hrs to go before 2012.
FVF from Georg Jensen '1995' pipe. Catch 22. Not only an excellent novel by Joseph Heller but also very tasty lager by Svaneke Brykhus (=brewery) from the island of Bornholm, Denmark. Locals call their island as the pearl of the Baltic Sea.
Now it's 'hyvää uuttavuotta' ('wish you good new year) for you all from Finland!

Looks to me like you need a couple of more pipes...........You will be on my Christmas list for NEXT year.............

Originally Posted by KeithS

This one's especially for Sailor, who requested some pics and a description of my meer repair, done by Dave Wolff at Walker Briar Works.

First off, please excuse, this meer isn't really pretty. I've been smoking it for a little over 30 years now and I wasn't as inclined to take real good care of my pipes in my younger days as I am now.

Sailor, I hope I covered the repair details clearly enough. I'm pretty impressed/amazed with the repair. I thought this meer was a goner. The old Sultan's not looking like royalty, but he sure smokes good!

AWESOME WORK!!! Looks original too... Meaning that it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb...