System Pipes

It's System Day 2018, understandably confused in some people's minds with a national holiday. In Ireland, at least, it should be, right? I can think of no better way to celebrate than with a poem by fellow Pete Freek Bryan J. P. Gesinger. I first saw Bryan's poem, "My Peterson System Pipe," hanging in the Peterson Museum in Sallynoggin, and he has graciously allowed me to share it with you: Warm, season’d briar evokes the Em’rald Isle Bespeaks the land of Jameson’s and Guinness. Mystique pervades the ingenious design Of Charles Peterson’s crowning achievement. The natural, pure essence of tobacco Its well-form’d bowl of aged briar yields. Reflection turns my mind to County Dublin – In Sallynoggin does my heart repose. And if you love mystique of Peterson pipes but haven't really figured out the ingenious design of the System yet, check out the post Adam O'Neill did with me on the Pipe Lines blog at Smokingpipes.com today. And now, on with the show! 6. Ferrule Dings, bends and loose ferrules are all common in older estate Petersons, and can often be removed without too much difficulty. The ferrule’s job isn’t primarily aesthetic, but to keep the tenon-mortise strong in the "push" (as Peterson craftsmen call the army mount style). The fit on James's O1 is quite snug and the glue very strong. It is unusual only in the sense that I’ve never seen one mounted in such a way as the nickel marks are up front, facing the chamber rim, rather than flush to the obverse. You can see the problem at the shank face, where the ferrule has been pulled up along the edge, presumably through long use in extracting the mouthpiece, which it scarred over the years. Steve Laug has complete instructions in the Peterson book (by the way, the book is done and off to the indexer) for how to fix almost any problem with a ferrule, so you’ll have to wait for the official version. But this repair is straight-forward. I needed only to use the heat gun to heat the ferrule at the shank face, then roll it on a hard surface—in this case, my all-purpose mat board. The nickel was pushed back to the shank’s opening, and the few tiny crimps were pushed down and sanded with the judicious application of a small flat file. I can’t sand the nickel cap like I would a sterling one, as it would remove the nickel-plate (the ferrule is nickel-plated brass). But I can use rouge or Tripoli compound along the ragged edge to give it a light sanding. Before putting the ferrule on the buffing well, I applied Simichrome, my go-to silver polish, to get it as clean as possible and avoid any buffing strain on the nickel. Afterwards, aside from the nickel marks, I gave the ferrule a light buffing with white compound to remove the light surface scratches.  The nickel mark area I went over lightly with a finer jeweler’s compound, Fabulustre. Some…