How many times have you come across a pipe looking like this? The stem is dirty and stained, the metal band corroded, and the bowl is looking very sad indeed. Our mission is to bring it back to life.
Step 1- The Stem
Over the years the stem does come in for some serious abuse, in and out of people’s mouths, twisted in greasy hands and generally left to grow grungy. The answer is ‘Bobs Magic Stem Polish’. Formulated from non-toxic ingredients this will get to work to restore your pride and joy. Apply it with either a brush (see picture) or a soft cloth. Rub vigorously into the stem until you have covered the entire area. Wipe off excess and check the finish. If you still have a few marks then repeat. The polish is designed to give the stem a lustrous, silky sheen – not a high gloss finish.
Step 2 – The Metal
If you have Bob’s Estate Pipe Tune – Up Kit you will have an electric brush with three heads. One is for stem polish, one for bowl polish and the other is for metal polish. If you don’t have the kit then a piece of cloth will do.
Apply metal polish (Brasso is ideal) until the stains and corrosion have gone. It’s much easier with the electric brush.
Step 3 – The bowl
Finally we come to the bowl. Remove any dirt with a cloth moistened with water and just a very small amount of washing up liquid. Remember the idea is just to remove any surface dirt, not the polished surface. After that apply ‘Bobs Magic Bowl Polish’, this is also made from natural ingredients and is non-toxic. I find that a soft cloth is best for smooth finishes and a brush for rustic. Leave for about ten minutes to allow the natural waxes to soak into the briar and do their work, then buff with a clean soft cloth. The results will amaze you.
Cleaning your pipe need not be a long task. The pipe I cleaned for these pictures took about 15 minutes. Was it a quarter of an hour well spent? Judge for yourselves.
This only took a few minutes work with the Bob’s Tune- Up Kit. Each kit contains 1 pot of Stem polish, 1 pot of bowl polish, 1 electric brush and three heads, one yellow duster and pipe cleaners. Remember after cleaning your pipe to run a pipe-cleaner through it to remove any traces of the polishes.
The pipe used for this demonstration was an actual estate pipe marked 'W E Bryant, Southampton' and sold on Ebay.
Tune-Up kits will shortly be selling on Ebay for the knock down price of £9.50, post and packing included. Keep your eyes open.
