Simple Cleanup On A Dr.Grabow El Dorado #69 Billiard

September 11, 2015 by Troy W 8 Comments

I have been looking for a nice El Dorado to add to my Dr. Grabow collection for a while, when this #69 large billiard showed up on Ebay. I bid and actually won it, i thought at a bargain price. The pipe was in excellent condition and the stamping’s were crisp. The El Dorado model does not show up often. They are a pretty scarce pipes. The El Dorado was introduced around 1960-61. It was a top of the line Dr.Grabow. All used grade A full grain briar and were hand finished ,hand buffed . At a time when the average American worker was making between .65-1.50 a hour the El Dorado was priced at 10.00 dollars (the ad pictured is a later one from about the mid to late 1960’s). Because of the price not many were sold. A former employee for Dr.Grabow said that they were lucky to sale a dozen a month most of the time. The El Dorado line lasted into the 1990’s but most sold were old stock from the production of them during the 1960s. I did not have to do much to the pipe but a basic cleaning. There was quite a bit of cake in it, but it flaked out rather easy. Sandpaper easily removed what was left.The shank and stem was really clean and took little effort . There may not have been much rim cake and scorching but what was there was stubborn. I had to do some long and delicate scrubbing and wet sanding with mineral oil to get it off and not remove the finish. I gave stem a light sanding and cleaned up the metal tenon and stinger. A rub down with mineral oil and quick inspection , she is ready for some buff and wax. Finished pipe. The pipe is also stamped with the Adjustamatic & Pat.no. on other side of shank . Shape number 69 on bottom. Dr.Grabow at one time made as good as a pipe as any factory pipe makers anywhere. To label them all as cheap drug store pipes has always seemed unfair to me. The pipe is a extremely fine smoker.