Anyone know anything about Pipes?

[Walkindude]

Hey guys, need some help. I was recently given a box of some very old pipes, the smoking variety, lol

They appear to be very old, and very dirty, But alot of them appear to be some very beautiful Briar pipes. They are definetly vintage, and in need of some cleaning. I'm working on finding the makers marks on them.

So far I have made out Knute of Denmark (briar pipe) Svenborg Danish Handmade, Belvedere Dr Grabow, a Rogers imported Briar from italy.

Does anyone know anything about pipes? Are they worth anything???

Would it hurt to wipe them off with a damp cloth, and clean tthem a little to kind of see what I have?

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated :thumbup:

 

[mwerner]

It's been awhile... Briars vary greatly in quality; the finest have grain nearly parallel to the bowl with the unstructured grain material at the bottom of the bowl. (I forget what they call that). No fills or defects.
If they have a lot of carbon buildup it indicates someone who did not know how to care for the pipe properly.
Dr. Grabows are pretty inexpensive, as I recall. A local tobaccionist might be able to tell you more. I doubt that there's much resale value, but I might be wrong; very fine briars go for hundreds of dollars.

 

[Absintheur]

Cleaning them up gently will not hurt them as long as no abrasives are used, the stems will normally separate from the bowl and can be cleaned with pipe cleaners and warm soapy water. I would be very careful about cleaning the inside of the bowls, a good pipe can be ruined by careless cleaning.

My father smoked pipes for years, I know some of his pipes were valued at up to $500.00 for some of the one of a kind free form pipes. Quite often you can look on Ebay and get an idea of values. Just make sure you look at auctions were the pipes are being bid on, not the ones that aren't selling.

 

[IVANKERLEY]

COOL Find.., as was said dont use anything abrasive and under no circumstances ream (scrap/clean) the inside of the bowl, leave the cake (black carbon build up from smoking) or have a tobacco store do them, ive seen the horrors of improper reaming, it could ruin the pipe Grabows were and are affordable knock around pipes that being said it may be worth something to someone because of age, i dont own a grabow myself.
im not an expert just a fan of smoking

If you need to sterilize the pipes use a clear liqour (vodka) or i have used scotch and rum and keep running pipe cleaners through the stem and into the shank (elbow near the bowl) As a rule dont use anything you wouldnt put into your mouth or body try to be tidy about it and not get alcohol all over the pipe, as it may hurt the finish on some pipes depends how well they were taking care of in their smoking days
hope this helps, get ya some 'baccy and enjoy
ivan
p.s. i'm a Nording and Peterson Pipe Smoker:thumbup:

 

[AKMI]

http://forum.pipes.org/~discus/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi

Here's a jump start, but please don't clean up the outside patina or start digging the heck on the inside without informing yourself further.

Its kinda like watching a person on the Antiques Road Show that had cleaned up Tiffany lamp with all sorts of cleaners until it shined, only to find out they lost forty to eighty thousand.:foot::grumpy:

Cleaning the inside carefully with the right tools is a breeze if you have the patience to do it right.( It'll save you a lot of time in the long run ) Stems depending on materials have nuances onto themselves as well.

Maker marks are sometimes easy to look up or harder than heck and have to draw upon an educated guess. There are many other sites as well for more info and to get a comparative value.

All in all you've been given quite a cool gift if you decide to make the leap.:thumbup: