Calabashes and Restorations

This is my favorite pipe, my Pioneer calabash (c.1970). It is my first and best calabash pipe. I purchased it in a bundle of pipes from eBay. I think no one noticed it in the midst of the other pipes, the price was low, so I pounced! And I've been happy ever since.

I have always loved calabash pipes, can't remember when I didn't like the look of them. I'm not a huge Mark Twain or Sherlock fan - I would rather think I'm resembling Einstein -but I do think these pipes are beautiful. I have purchased 5 of them, 3 of which I need to repair, and now one of which I have sold.

As this site grows I will document my restoration of these pipes and any more that I pick up along the way.

The meerschaum bowl is a little scratched, but beginning to turn colors very nicely!

Here are all five of my calabashes. Note the damaged stems on the bottom two, and that one is missing it's bowl. The top right has a small threading problem, and the top left is a porcelain bowl not meer.

I gather from good authority that this is a 1970s Pioneer calabash. I have two of this design, with the wide reddish gourd and the tall, almost domed meer cap.

This one came to me moldy on the inside. After several alcohol baths and months of airtime, I think she is ok. My problem now is with the ferrule having stripped the threads in the gourd.

The question is should I glue the ferrule in place, or cut the gourd to re-thread? I imagine a little wood putty might let me rethread without cutting, but then it will have weak thread.

I don't know the maker of this one, although the ferrule attachment has similarities to my first Pioneer.

The first obvious difference is the carvings in the gourd. I'm not a fan of rusticated pipes.

The second stark difference is that this calabash has a porcelain bowl.

The third difference is the stem - still vulcanite, but its not turned as nicely as my first calabash. By this info, I can only assume that this pipe is not very old.

It doesn't really matter now because I sold this pipe to a guy in China. Hope he's enjoying it more that I did!

I picked up another one of the reddish Pioneers in a lot of Sherlock books and a hat. This one has a glued in ferrule that at some point has cracked. I re-broke trying to take it out. I'll put vice grips to it, but it that doesn't work, I'm drilling it out.

I assume I will have to recut and thread this one, but I'll be doing it a service since the rest of the pipe is quite nice and should be enjoyed!

This one I picked up without the meer, and with a few other broken pipes, for really cheap. I'm not sure what maker it is... I thought Kaywoodie had ferrules like that?

Other than no meer and a broken shank, it's in great shape! Seriously though, I've already fixed the ferrule and I'll hold onto it in case I get a meer bowl with no pipe someday.