I seem to have a thing for these metal pipes. This is actually a replacement for one of the original pipes my grandfather gave me. Its stamped 'Viking' on the underside of the stem, and has a small white spade printed on one side of the bit. Apparently a Dr. Grabow, but I still can't find much info on it.
The original was borrowed by my brother for a highschool project, and somebody ran off with it. This one is actually in better condition, so, no problems.
When I received it, it had the thickest blackest tar in the bottom of the stem I have ever seen, and you couldn't draw thru it at all. I put it in a ultrasonic cleaner at work at 170°F, and it was clean in minutes. No elbow grease! I followed that up with a quick glass blasting of the inside of the bowl to get the old charred bits out. This pipe has seen some use! The previous owner must have only smoked half a bowl, because the wood was in good shape until the bottom half, and then it gets considerable larger down there. The whole thing, btw, smelled like old stale Borkum Riff. blah.
I re-broke in the pipe yesterday afternoon, it smokes great. Cleaning it like that removes all chances of it tasting like ass on the first burn. Not bad for $23 shipped.