Tag Archives: fitting a new stem

A Pipe Hunt Find in Bellingham – An Israeli Made Pedestal Pipe

Blog by Steve Laug

On our recent Victoria Day Weekend (5/18/24) my family met Jeff and his wife in Bellingham for breakfast, a visit and a bit of pipe hunting. We visited three of my favourite antique malls and worked out way through the aisles of wares for sale. Jeff and I tend to divide and conquer, each walking through the aisles looking for pipes. The rest of the family moves through looking for their own treasures. The second shop we visited is a treasure trove of items from the past and one that I could spend a lot of time working through. As we went through the aisles of treasures I found a case with carved animal pipes and a Ropp Cherrywood, really none of them captured my interest this time around. I looked them over and set them aside. Then I saw an interesting pipe standing in the back of the case. It was called The Pedestal Pipe and was made in Israel – presumably by the Shalom Pipe Manufacturing company. We left the shop with this addition to the hunting bag (https://rebornpipes.com/tag/bellingham-pipe-hunt/).I decided to take a break from the pipes in my queue of pipes to work on and deal with the Pedestal Pipe shown above next. It was an interesting shape stands on its own – like a pipe on a pedestal. It had some nice grain under the grime and varnish coat on the bowl and shank. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads The Pedestal [arched over] Pipe. On the right side it is stamped and reads Mediterranean [over] Briar Israel. Here is what I saw. The bowl had a thick cake in it a thick lava coat on the rim top and edges. The finish was spotty with varnish or some shiny coat that was peeling around the bowl. The stem was fancy and there was a round saddle portion that sat against the shank end. The blade of the stem was flattened and had panel sides. It was dirty and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took some photos of the pipe before I started working on it. I took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is heavily caked and the rim top and edges have a heavy coat of lava overflowing on to them. There is some burn or reaming damage on the inner edge of the bowl. The stem is oxidized, calcified and has tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. You can see it is readable and in person looks much better with a light and lens. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to show the look of the pipe. I decided to do some digging on the net about the brand. I turned first to Pipephil’s site to see what I could find. I could not find any link to the Pedestal line from Israel but I turned to the section on the site for Alpha pipe (also made by Shalom Pipe Factory). Here is the link to the Alpha section (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-a4.html). I did a screen capture of the section on the pipes. The third pipe in the photo below has an identical stem to the Pedestal Pipe that I am working on. This ties the brand to Alpha at some level and even more to Shalom Pipe Factory.With that information I turned to Pipedia and looked up the information on the Shalom Pipe Factory (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Shalom_Pipe_Factory). I quote the information from the site below. I have highlighted the Pedestal link in the article.

Not much is known about Israel’s sole pipe factory though it’s reported to have operated quite successfully on international markets.

Beside the brand “Shalom” the mainstay brand was Alpha – especially well known in the USA. Alpha was popular for a range of fresh and unusual shapes. Series (afaik): Caprice (s), Citation (s), Classic (b), Pedestal (s), Regent, Region (b), Rex (s). (1)

(1) (b) = blasted, (s) = smooth…

Alpha also produced at least one of its Citation forms for Carey’s “Magic Inch” series.

Mentioned in context with Shalom Pipe Factory was a Danish pipemaker named ‘Muki Liebermann’, who later lived and worked in the USA. Muki is known for his unique briar bending technique and his original shapes that gave inspiration to many of the most praised Danish pipemakers.

Shalom was taken over by Robert L. Marx of New York City, later Sparta, NC, then of Mastercraft. Mastercraft continued the Alpha pipes introducing new lines.

I did a Google search for the The Pedestal Pipe and came up with a few links that I followed up on. The best of them was a link to a thread on Pipesmagazine forum to a discussion on a pipe very much like this one (https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/unique-original-sitter-pipe-designs.25944/). I quote the starting post in the thread below:

I liked this pipes unique design as a sitter and the briar doesn’t look too shabby. I’m guessing this came from the Shalom Pipe Factory and made by Muki Liebermann since he was known for his unique briar bending technique and original shapes.

The only stamping found is ‘THE PEDESTAL PIPE’ and ‘Mediterranean Briar Israel’. I’ve searched the internet and cannot find any information on this pipe other than what I have mentioned. Been smoking it for the past week and it’s an excellent smoker.
Feel free to post images of your sitters!! Love to see them.

Now I was ready to start the work on the pipe. I wiped the bowl down with acetone to remove the spotty shiny coat on the pipe. It took a few wipe downs to remove it but once finished it definitely was better. Interestingly there was some red dye under the shiny coat that came off as well. I moved on to work on the internals of the pipe. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer to take the cake back to bare briar. I took the cake back to bare briar and cleaned up the remnants of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl walls with sandpaper wrapped around a piece of briar to smooth them out. The inside walls were clean and there was no sign of burning or checking on them. I scrubbed the inside of the shank and the airway in it and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. Once it was clean it smelled much better was ready for the next steps in the process.I scrubbed the externals of the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime in the finish. I rinsed the bowl off with warm water. I scrubbed the internals with shank brushes and soap to remove the grime inside. I was able to remove a lot of the lava on the rim top as well. The bowl was beginning to look much better at this point. I sanded the bowl with sanding pads – sanding with 320-3500 grit pads and wiped down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The bowl began to take on a real shine. It was going to be a beautiful pipe. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the bowl down after each sanding pad. The grain really began to shine through. It is a beautiful pipe. The polishing of the rim top and inner edge brought the rim top colour to match the rest of the bowl. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem issues. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter. I was able to lift the marks on the stem top leaving light marks but the ones on the bottom side were much deeper and the flame lifted them slightly but they still remained. I filled in the marks that remained with clear CA glue. Once the repair cured I flattened the repair with small files. It looked much better. I cleaned up the repairs with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to flatten them and blend them in very well with the surface of the vulcanite. Before continuing with the sanding process, I heated the stem with my lighter to soften the vulcanite and bent it to match the flow of the bowl. It looked much better with the proper bend.I sanded out the scratches and marks in the stem surface with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It looked much better and really started to take on a shine.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I am excited to put the final touches on this interesting Israeli Made pipe by Muki Liebermann of the Shalom Pipe Factory. It is a beautiful and uniquely shaped pipe called The Pedestal Pipe. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful grain on the bowl sides, top and bottom. The polished black vulcanite, newly fitted stem combined with the bowl to make a stunning pipe. This smooth The Pedestal Pipe is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 56 grams/1.98 ounces. I will be adding it to the Pipes By Various Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

A Pipe Hunt Find in Bellingham – A Sir Winston’s Own Author

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

On our recent Victoria Day Weekend (5/18/24) my family met Jeff and his wife in Bellingham, Washington for breakfast, a visit and a bit of pipe hunting. We visited three of my favourite antique malls and worked out way through the aisles of wares for sale. Jeff and I tend to divide and conquer, each walking through the aisles of the shop looking for pipes. The rest of the family moves through looking for their own treasures. In the second shop we visited we had some success in our finds. The shop is one that I have visited for over 20 years and come to know the owner. We generally have a great chat on our visits and spent some time chatting and catching up on life. By the time we finished chatting we came away with five pipes added to the hunt bag. These included a Savinelli Sherwood Rock Briar 316KS, a Sir Winstons Own Bellingham WA, a Kensington Made in London England Pot, Genuine Block Meerschaum Opera pipe, and last of all an Oval shank 1/4 Bent pot no name but great grain. Here is the link to the blog on the hunt and a photo of the five pipes we added (https://rebornpipes.com/tag/bellingham-pipe-hunt/). I decided to take a break from the pipes in my queue of pipes to work on and deal with the Sir Winston’s Own Bellingham, WA author. I have circled the Sir Winston’s Own in the photo above. It was an interesting shape that fits what I like in a pipe. It had some nice grain under the grime on the bowl and shank. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Sir Winston’s Own [over] Bellingham, WA. There was no other stamping on the rest of the pipe. The Sir Winston’s Stamp brought back some memories for me of a visit to a long-closed pipe shop in Bellingham so I decided as soon as I saw the stamp that I would take that one home to work on. Here is what I saw. The stem was a bit larger in diameter than the shank and it had a large chunk missing on the underside of the stem. There were no marks on the stem either. The bowl had a thick cake in it and some bits and bobs of tobacco stuck to the walls. There was a thick lava coat on the rim top and edges. I liked the shape of the bowl and in my opinion, it would look far better with a shorter stem. I would get to see what that would look like soon enough. I took some photos of the pipe before I started working on it. I took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is heavily caked and the rim top and edges have a heavy coat of lava overflowing on to them. There is some burn or reaming damage on the front left side of the inner edge of the bowl. The stem is oxidized, calcified and has a large chunk of vulcanite missing from the underside from the button forward up the stem ½ inch.I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. You can see that it is faint but it is readable with a light and lens. You can also see the misfit of the stem to the shank.When I saw the upper part of the stamp on the shank side that read Sir Winston’s Own I figured it was connected to a pipe shop that I visited in 2018. I only went there once and it was closed and gone. I wrote a blog about the visit the first time I went there in a blog on a shop that closed and also this one (https://rebornpipes.com/tag/sir-winston-pipe-shop-in-bellingham-wasington/). I clicked on the link and read the story of my visit to the shop. I am quoting from that blog below. I have included the information and the photos to give a sense of context to the Sir Winston’s Own Bellingham, WA pipe that I am working on now.

I googled pipe shops in Bellingham and there was one that came up that was not too far away from the old Senate location. In fact, the app said it was a 7-minute drive. It said the shop did not open until 11am so we stopped by a coffee shop and relaxed while we waited for the shop to open. While we sat there I read some of the online reviews of the shop and looked through the photos. The shop was called Sir Winston Pipes & Cigars. The photos showed some bulk tobacco. As we got closer to 11 o’clock we headed over to the shop. It was located at 2122 James St. in Bellingham, WA. It was an interesting neighbourhood – residential dwellings surrounded by light industrial buildings. It was on a busy four lane street. We found the address and a parking place in front of the house. The sign in the front yard caught my attention. It was bright red sign that read Sir Winston Pipes & Cigars. It hung by its right side from what looked like a silver cigar tube with the SW (Sir Winston) label on the tube. There was a large Peterson’s style system pipe hanging below the sign – dark brown bowl, silver ferrule and a black stem.

The shop itself was a small house with a large front porch. It was nicely laid out and had a well laid out yard with sidewalk leading to the front door. There was a parking lot behind the shop and a rear entrance that also lead into the shop. We arrived a little before 11 and the shop keeper was opening the front door and turning on the “Open” sign in the front window on the right as you came up the sidewalk. I turned the handle on the door and open it inward. The sales counter was to my left as I came in the door. I asked the shop keep if the shop was open and she said, “Just about… but come on in”. My friend and I came in the shop and had a look around…

…The inside of this shop was a real old fashioned tobacco shop. There were no glass pipes, bongs and the like on the counters or walls. There were no fruit flavoured cigars on the counter and not a lot of drug store tobaccos. Those were my first impressions as I opened the door to the shop. It looked and smelled like a tobacco shop. I could almost imagine the days, not that long ago when you could walk into a shop like this and see old timers sitting in the back of the shop around the fireplace, under the television set enjoying a pipe or cigar. Sitting and chatting with each other wreathed in tobacco smoke and chatting and laughing. There would have been a coffee pot going and maybe a refrigerator with some drinks. None of those were there now but the space was there and the memory was still present in my mind as I looked things over.…After my ramble through the shop I took time to talk with the shop keeper. She turned out to be the owner. She had run this shop for 30 years and knew her stuff. Turned out she was a pipe smoker so we talked about the various blends that she had and the ones that were on order and had not come in to fill in her inventory after the Christmas season. Her name was Robbie and she really knew her stuff. We talked about the changes in the laws and the impact that had on her shop. She talked about the changes in the tobacco that was available for her to order. She remembered the days when her walls were lined with English and European tobaccos as well as a wide range of American ones. Those days she said had passed and it was hard to get any variety.

I decided to pick up some pipe cleaners so I put them on the front counter. My friend and I wanted to purchase some of her bulk tobaccos so she went over to the shelf and we had Robbie weigh out some for us. I picked a couple of ounces of her Scottish Blend and my friend got some of that and some of the Queen’s Blend. She bagged our tobaccos and carried them over to the counter. My friend picked up a pipe pouch made by Comoy’s that would hold his pipe, tobacco, tampers and lighter. While we were looking several other customers, who were obviously old friends came into the shop and purchased tobacco and other items from her. It was good to see that the place was still a living and working shop with a following that was known and made to feel at home.

Reminded of the great adventure I had at this now defunct pipe shop I was ready to work on the Sir Winston’s Own Pipe I had picked up. It would be nice to have this memory piece from that Pipe Shop. I was ready to restem it and clean it up. I decided to start with a new stem. I went through my stems and found a nice looking saddle stem that I thought would be a good fit and look good. The tenon was a little bigger than the old stem but with a slight bit of work on it with my Dremel the tenon was the same size. I took photos of the new stem alongside of the old one.I put the new stem on the shank and took photos. I still needed to reduce the diameter of the saddle portion of the stem to fit the shank but I like the look of the new stem both in terms of length and shape. It was going to be a nice looking pipe once I was finished. I used my Dremel and sanding drum along with a flat file to begin reducing the diameter of the stem to fit that of the shank. I took off quite a bit with Dremel and started fine tuning it with the file. It is beginning to look very good at this point.There was still a lot of work to do on the fit of the stem to the shank but I decided to clean up the bowl and internals before finishing the stem fit. I wanted to make sure that the shank was clean and that it sat correctly in the shank. I wanted to make sure it was fitted with no gap between the shank end and the stem. I started the process by reaming the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer to take the cake back to bare briar. I took the cake back to bare briar and cleaned up the remnants of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl walls with sandpaper wrapped around a piece of briar to smooth them out. The inside walls were clean and there was no sign of burning or checking on them. I scrubbed the externals of the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime in the finish. I rinsed the bowl off with warm water. I scrubbed the internals with a shank brush and soap to remove the grime inside. I was able to remove a lot of the lava on the rim top as well. The bowl was beginning to look much better at this point. I was at this point that I remembered that I was going to try Mark Hoover’s Before & After Briar Cleaner. I got out the cleaner and scrubbed the externals of the bowl and shank with the cleaner. I worked it into the surface of the bowl with my finger tips and scrubbed it with a tooth brush. I wiped it off with cotton make up pads. It removed a lot more of the grime and the rim top looked even better. Now it was time to clean out the internals. I scrubbed the shank and the airway in the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. Once it was clean it smelled much better and I knew the walls were clean enough to make for a snug fit in the shank.To deal with the damage to the inner edge and the slightly bevelled rim top I used a wooden ball and some 220 grit sandpaper. I wrapped the top of the bowl with the sandpaper and turned the bowl and rim top into the sandpaper. It looked very good once I was finished.I wiped the bowl down with acetone to remove the sanding dust and also to remove the stain that darkened the bowl and made it darker than the rim top. It made the match much closer. I used a Maple Stain Pen to bring the colour even closer to the bowl sides. It would look even better once I sanded and buffed the pipe.I sanded the bowl with sanding pads – sanding with 320-3500 grit pads and wiped down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The bowl began to take on a real shine. It was going to be a beautiful pipe. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the bowl down after each sanding pad. The grain really began to shine through. It is a beautiful pipe. The polishing of the rim top and inner edge brought the rim top colour to match the rest of the bowl. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. With the bowl finished I turned my attention to the stem. I put it on the shank and worked on it with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the remaining excess diameter. I repeatedly checked on the progress of the work on the stem. It looked much better. I liked the look of the new stem and fit to the shank was really nice. The flow of the shank to the stem was smooth with no high spots on the transition. It felt great in the hand and really looked good. On a whim I took out a thin brass band and slipped it on the shank to have a look at the pipe with the cosmetic band. It did not cover any of the stamping so it was perfect. I took a few photos of the pipe with the band in place on the shank. Have a look. I removed the stem from the shank and sanded out the scratches and marks in the stem surface with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It looked much better and really started to take on a shine.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I am excited to put the final touches on this interesting piece of Bellingham, Washington Pipe Shop history. It is a beautiful Sir Winston’s Own Bellingham WA pipe shop pipe. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful grain on the bowl sides, top and bottom. The polished black vulcanite, newly fitted stem combined with the bowl to make a stunning pipe that brings back to my mind that 2018 visit to a no longer existent pipe shop. This smooth Sir Winston’s Own Author is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 49 grams/1.69 ounces. It is one that I will enjoy as I remember that beautiful day at Sir Winston’s Pipe Shop in Bellingham. I still have the Scottish Blend jarred and stored here that I purchased there in 2018. I am looking forward to that first smoke which may well be tomorrow morning. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. QUICK UPDATE: I loaded bowl of Sir Winston’s Scottish Blend in the Sir Winston’s Own Pipe and sat out on the front porch and enjoyed a great smoke. It was a smooth and easy draw and a great tasting tobacco.

Would you call it a Bent Volcano?

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

I have three more Malaga Pipes that Jeff sent me to work on. The first of those on the table this afternoon is an interesting Malaga in a shape I would call a Volcano. Jeff saw it on eBay and purchased the threesome on 12/22/2023 from a seller in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA. The grain on this pipe is quite nice. Once again it was obviously someone’s favourite smoker. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads MALAGA. The smooth bowl and shank were dirty and worn. There were tars and oils ground into the surface of the briar. The bowl had a moderate cake that flowed over the top of the smooth rim in a spotty lava coat. The cake in the bowl extended up to the top of the rim. It was hard to clearly assess the condition of the inner edge. The condition of the rim edge and top would become clear in the cleaning process. The outer edge looked very good. The taper stem was vulcanite. It had originally been bent and when it sat as a sitter the stem would have angled to match the rim top. However, over time the stem had straightened a lot and would need to be bent again. There were light tooth marks on the top and the underside of the stem ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipes before he started his clean up work. Jeff took photos of the rim and bowl to show the cake and the spotty lava on the rim top and edges. The inner edge of the rim showed thick cake coming up to the top and flowing over the edge. It was a dirty pipe but still a beauty. The vulcanite taper stem had light tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show some stunning and unique grain all around the pipe. There are also two carved “leaves” or loose lines on the right side and the front of the bowl at the bottom edge. The oil curing/finish makes the grain really stand out on the bowl and shank. Jeff took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It read MALAGA as noted above. The stamping was clear and readable.For those of you who are unfamiliar with the brand, I am also including the link to a blog that I wrote that gives some of the history of the Malaga brand and the Malaga Pipe Shop in Royal Oak, Michigan in the USA. Here is the link – https://rebornpipes.com/2013/02/09/george-khoubesser-and-malaga-pipes/. That blog also includes links to a catalogue and the history of the pipemaker George Khoubesser. If you are interested to learn more then I invite you to follow the link to get a feel for the brand and the pipemaker.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Breathing Life into a Classic “Malaga” Imported Briar Straight Bulldog

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

For the next little while I am working on some Malaga Pipes. I have several in queue to work on so I tend to pick them by what catches my eye. The next pipe on the table is an interesting Malaga Bulldog. Jeff saw it on eBay and purchased it on 12/22/2023 from a seller in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA. The grain on this pipe is quite nice. Once again it was obviously someone’s favourite smoker. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads “MALAGA”. On the right side of the shank it reads Imported Briar. The smooth bowl and shank were dirty and worn. The twin rings around the rim cap look very good. There were tars and oils ground into the surface of the briar. The bowl had a very thick cake that flowed over the top of the smooth rim in a lava coat. The cake in the bowl was thick right up to the top of the rim. It was hard to fully assess the condition of the inner edge. The condition of the rim edge and top would become clear in the cleaning process. The outer edge looked very good. The saddle stem was vulcanite. There were light tooth marks on the top and the underside of the stem ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipes before he started his clean up work. Jeff took photos of the rim and bowl to show the heavy cake and lava on the rim top and edges. The inner edge of the rim showed thick cake coming up to the top and flowing over the edge. It was a dirty pipe but still a beauty. The vulcanite saddle stem had tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show some stunning and unique grain all around the pipe. The oil curing/finish makes the grain really stand out on the bowl and shank. Jeff took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It read “Malaga” on the left side as noted above. On the right side it read Imported Briar. The stamping was clear and readable.For those of you who are unfamiliar with the brand, I am also including the link to a blog that I wrote that gives some of the history of the Malaga brand and the Malaga Pipe Shop in Royal Oak, Michigan in the USA. Here is the link – https://rebornpipes.com/2013/02/09/george-khoubesser-and-malaga-pipes/. That blog also includes links to a catalogue and the history of the pipemaker George Khoubesser. If you are interested to learn more then I invite you to follow the link to get a feel for the brand and the pipemaker.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe using his usual procedure. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of it with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime from around the bowl sides. It looked much better. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The stem looked much better and the light tooth marks on both sides were still visible and would need a little work. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. I took a photo of the rim top and the stem to show their condition. Jeff was able to clean up the cake and the lava overflow that was shown in the rim and bowl photos above. The rim top was clean but there were chips and nicks around the rim top and the edges of the bowl. There was also some darkening on the flat surface of the rim. It is visible in the first photo below. The stem looked better, though there were tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took photos of the stamping on the shank sides to show that it was readable and undamaged by the cleanup work. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of what the pipe looks like.I worked on the rim top and edges of the bowl to remove the damage and darkening on the surface or edges of the bowl. I lightly topped the bowl to smooth out the nicks and cuts in the top. I worked over it with 320-1000 grit sanding pads and worked on the inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I wiped it down with a damp cloth and it looked better. I polished the smooth panels on the bowl sides and the smooth rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I touched up the clean rim top with a Maple Stain Pen. After the staining I continued sanding the rim top and bowl with 3200-12000 grit micromesh pads. I wiped it down after each pad. It really began to be beautiful. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. I worked it into the twin rings around the bowl cap with a horsehair shoe brush. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it into the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I started the polishing of the stem with 2 x 2 inch sanding pads – dry sanding with 320-3500 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad. I was able to remove the light tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface on both sides. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I did a final hand polish of the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry.I put the stem back on the “Malaga” Imported Briar Classic Bulldog and took it to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful “Malaga” Classic Bulldog and the hard rubber taper stem and smooth finish combine to give the pipe a great look. I honestly have no idea why it is labeled a second as there are no fills or flaws in the briar. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.02 ounces/28 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting on the rebornpipes online store in the American Pipe Makers and Pipemaking Companies Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

This Rare and Beautiful “Malaga” Raskassa Cutty cleaned up extremely well

5 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

For the next little while I am working on some Malaga Pipes. I have several in queue to work on so I tend to pick them by what catches my eye. The next pipe on the table is an interesting Malaga Raskassa Large Cutty. Jeff saw it on eBay and purchased it on 10/05/2023 from a seller in Pomona, Missouri, USA. The grain on this pipe is very stunning. It was obviously someone’s favourite smoker. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads RASKASSA. The smooth bowl and shank were dirty and worn. There were tars and oils ground into the surface of the briar. The bowl had a very thick cake that flowed over the top of the smooth rim in a spotty lava coat. The cake in the bowl was thick right up to the top of the rim. It was hard to fully assess the condition of the inner edge. The rim top and inner edge of the bowl appeared to have some damage but more would become clear in the cleaning process. The outer edge had chips and dents from knocking the pipe against a hard surface. The taper stem appeared to be either vulcanite or hard rubber. There were tooth marks on the top and the underside ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipes before he started his clean up work.Jeff took photos of the rim and bowl to show the heavy cake and lava spots on the rim top and edges. The bevelled inner edge of the rim showed some darkening and had some cake on it. The grain on the rim top is quite stunning. It was a dirty pipe but still a beauty. The hard rubber stem had tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show some stunning and unique grain all around the pipe. The oil curing/finish makes the grain really stand out on the bowl and shank. Jeff took a photo of the stamping on the left side it read Raskassa as noted above. It was clear and readable.For those of you who are unfamiliar with the brand, I am also including the link to a blog that I wrote that gives some of the history of the Malaga brand and the Malaga Pipe Shop in Royal Oak, Michigan in the USA. Here is the link – https://rebornpipes.com/2013/02/09/george-khoubesser-and-malaga-pipes/. That blog also includes links to a catalogue and the history of the pipemaker George Khoubesser. If you are interested to learn more then I invite you to follow the link to get a feel for the brand and the pipemaker.

I am also am including a link to some printed material on the Malaga brand that came to me from the daughter of George Koch (we purchased George’s pipes from his daughter) to help identify the particular stamping on the pipe. The link takes you to the entire collection of materials that were sent to me. I have included a screen capture of one particular page that helps identify the RAS KASSA stamping on the pipe (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/02/27/malaga-pipes-catalogue-of-pipes-and-tobaccos/). I have enclosed the section on the brand in a red box in the picture above. To summarize, it basically says that the stamping is applied to pipes with special rare grain patterns in the briar. These appear to be straight grain, birdseye, swirled grains etc. that are tight patterns. They are rare – 1 or 2 in every hundred pipes. This pipe is one of those. You can read the description in the detailed explanation below.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe using his usual procedure. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of it with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The shank had an inset to take in the tenon and the end of the stem so I would need to fit a stem to sit in the shank. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. I took a photo of the rim top and the stem to show their condition. Jeff was able to clean up the cake and the lava overflow that was shown in the rim and bowl photos above. The rim top was clean but there were chips and nicks around the inner edge of the bowl and nicks on the outer edge. There was also some darkening on the flat surface of the rim. It is visible in the first photo below. The stem looked better, though there were tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button and on the button surface itself.I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank to show that it was readable and undamaged by the cleanup work. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of what the pipe looks like.It was time to start my work on the pipe. I started with the rim top and edges of the bowl. I sanded the inner and the outer edge of the bowl. I used a topping board and 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the rim top and darkening. Once I was finished with the light topping the grain on the rim top looked very good. I polished the smooth panels on the bowl sides and the smooth rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I touched up the clean rim top with a Maple Stain Pen. After the staining I continued sanding the rim top and bowl with 3200-12000 grit micromesh pads. I wiped it down after each pad. It really began to be beautiful. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it into the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the tooth marks on both sides with black CA glue. I set it aside to cure. Once the repairs hardened I used a small needle file to flatten out the repairs. I smoothed them out with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the rest of the surrounding vulcanite. I set the finished bowl aside and we back to the stem. I started the polishing of the stem with 2 x 2 inch sanding pads – dry sanding with 320-3500 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I did a final hand polish of the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry.I put the stem back on the “Malaga” Beautifully Grained Raskassa Large Cutty and took it to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful “Malaga” Large Raskassa Cutty and the hard rubber taper stem and smooth finish combine to give the pipe a great look. I honestly have no idea why it is labeled a second as there are no fills or flaws in the briar. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 7 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.98 ounces/56 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting on the rebornpipes online store in the American Pipe Makers and Pipemaking Companies Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

This Amazing Magnum “Malaga” Rusticated Billiard cleaned up extremely well

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is an interesting Rusticated Malaga Magnum Billiard. Jeff saw it on eBay and purchased it on 12/22/2023 from a seller in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA. It was a large and dirty pipe with grit and grime in the grooves of the rustication. It was obviously someone’s favourite smoker. The pipe is stamped on a smooth panel on the left side of the shank and reads “Malaga”. The rusticated bowl surface had a smooth rim edge and rim top and down about 1/8 inch down the outside of the bowl. There were smooth panels on all sides of the bowl and on the left and right side of the shank. There were tars and oils ground into the surface of the briar. The bowl had a very thick cake that flowed over the top of the smooth rim in a spotty lava coat. The cake in the bowl was thick right up to the top of the rim. It was hard to fully assess the condition of the inner edge. There was a fill on the front of the rim top from the inner edge half way into the rim top. There were also burn marks on the left side of the top edge band on the rim and onto the edge of the smooth panel on the left side. There was a crack in the shank on the right side toward the bottom of the shank. The taper stem appeared to be either vulcanite or hard rubber. There were tooth marks on the top and the underside ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipes before he started his clean up work. Jeff took photos of the rim and bowl to show the heavy cake and lava spots on the rim top. The inner edge of the rim had some cake on it. There was also a flaw in the briar on the rim top at the front of the bowl extending from the inner edge to the middle of the rim top. It was a dirty pipe but still a beauty. The hard rubber stem had tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show a unique rusticated finish with smooth panels on the pipe and makes the grain really stand out on the bowl and shank. This bowl shows real promise. Jeff took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank centred on the smooth panel. It read “Malaga” as noted above. It was clear and readable.He took a photo of the crack on right side lower on the shank. It is about an inch long and extended from the shank end inward to the rustication.I am including the link to a blog that I wrote that gives some of the history of the Malaga brand and the Malaga Pipe Shop in Royal Oak, Michigan in the USA. I have written an earlier blog to give a little history of the Malaga Brand and the pipemaker, George Khoubesser. Here is the link (https://rebornpipes.com/2013/02/09/george-khoubesser-and-malaga-pipes/). That blog also includes links to a catalogue and the history of the pipemaker George Khoubesser. Follow the link to get a feel for the brand and the pipemaker.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe using his usual procedure. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of it with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The shank had an inset to take in the tenon and the end of the stem so I would need to fit a stem to sit in the shank. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. I took a photo of the rim top and the stem to show their condition. Jeff was able to clean up the cake and the lava overflow that was shown in the rim and bowl photos above. The rim top looked very good but there was fill visible on the front of the bowl from the inner edge toward the middle of the rim top. It is visible in the first photo below. The stem looked better, though there were tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank to show that it was readable and undamaged by the cleanup work. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of what the pipe looks like.I decided to start working on the pipe by dealing with the crack in the shank. I ran a thin bead of CA glue on the crack and pressed it together. I went through my bands and found a silver band that fit well on the shank. I heated the band with the flame of a lighter and pressed it onto the shank against the padded surface of my desk top. I took photos of the newly banded shank from a variety of angles to give a sense of what the pipe looked like with the bling. The crack in the shank was no longer visible. The band brought the crack back together and it was tight. The only issue once I repair a crack with a band is that the original tenon no longer fits in the shank. I sanded the tenon with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper until it fit snug in the shank. I put the stem in place and took photos of the stem in place. The pipe is looking good.I set the stem aside and worked on the bowl top. I repaired the fill and flaw with clear CA glue and briar dust. I worked it into flaw with a dental spatula. Once it had cured I sanded the inner edge to clean up the repair with 220 grit sandpaper. I used a topping board and 220 grit sandpaper to flatten the repair and blend it into the surrounding briar. Once it was flat I used a 600 grit sanding pad to smooth out the surface. I stained the rim top with a Maple stain pen to match the surrounding bowl and shank. I polished the smooth panels on the bowl sides and the smooth rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it into the briar. I used a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the rustication. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the tooth marks on both sides with black CA glue. I set it aside to cure. Once the repairs hardened I smoothed out the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the rest of the surrounding vulcanite. I set the finished bowl aside and we back to the stem. I started the polishing of the stem with 2 x 2 inch sanding pads – dry sanding with 320-3500 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I did a final hand polish of the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry. I put the stem back on the “Malaga” Magnum Rusticated Billiard and took it to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful “Malaga” Magnum Billiard and the hard rubber taper stem and smooth finish combine to give the pipe a great look. I honestly have no idea why it is labeled a second as there are no fills or flaws in the briar. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 8 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.93 ounces/83 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting on the rebornpipes online store in the American Pipe Makers and Pipemaking Companies Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

Jeff saw this Malaga Second Bowl sans stem, liked it and went for it

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is an interesting Malaga Freehand/Skater bowl. Jeff saw it on eBay and purchased it on 12/01/2023 from a seller in Swartz Creek, Michigan, USA. It was dirty pipe with a lot of wear and tear and obviously it had been someone’s favourite smoker. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads Malaga [over] Second. The dirty smooth finish was not able to hide the beauty of the grain around the bowl and shank. There were tars and oils ground into the surface of the briar. The bowl had a very thick cake that flowed over the top of the smooth rim in a heavy lava coat. The cake in the bowl was thick right up to the top of the rim. It was hard to fully assess the condition of the inner edge. The outer edge of the bowl showed some nicks and dents. There was also a tar/lava build up on the shank end as well. The pipe was a mess. The stem was missing so it would need to be fitted with a new stem. Jeff took photos of the pipes before he started his clean up work. Jeff took photos of the rim and bowl to show the heavy cake and heavy lava coat covering the rim top. The inner edge of the rim was so thickly caked that it was not possible to know with certainty the condition. It really was a dirty pipe but still a beauty. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowls show some beautiful grain around the bowl and shank sides. Malaga pipes are oil cured and you can see that it adds depth to finish on the pipe and makes the grain really stand out on the bowl and shank. This bowl shows real promise. Jeff captured the inset on the shank end and the grime and tars built up on the surface of the briar.Jeff captured the stamping on the underside of the shank with the next photo. It was clear and readable and read as noted above. The grain below the stamp is also quite nice. I am including the link to a blog that I wrote that gives some of the history of the Malaga brand and the Malaga Pipe Shop in Royal Oak, Michigan in the USA. I have written an earlier blog to give a little history of the Malaga Brand and the pipemaker, George Khoubesser. Here is the link (https://rebornpipes.com/2013/02/09/george-khoubesser-and-malaga-pipes/). That blog also includes links to a catalogue and the history of the pipemaker George Khoubesser. Follow the link to get a feel for the brand and the pipemaker.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe using his usual procedure. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of it with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The shank had an inset to take in the tenon and the end of the stem so I would need to fit a stem to sit in the shank. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is quite clear and easy to read.I went through my can of stems and found this acrylic taper stem. The diameter of the stem portion was a little too large in diameter to fit in the inset of the shank. I would need to sand the stem diameter to get a good fit to the inset. I started my cleanup of the bowl and rim top by using a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the inner rim edge and remove the darkening on the rim top around the edge. It worked very well and the cleaned-up rim and top looked much better.With all my sanding and trying various stems I was concerned about the dust and debris in the shank. I wanted to clean it up and also the inside of the airway in the stem. I used isopropyl alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs.I polished the bowl and the rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The pipe began to take on a rich shine and grain was beginning to stand out. I worked on the diameter of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper so that it would fit in the inset on the shank end. It would take a regular tenon in the mortise and the portion of the stem above the tenon would fit in the inset. I sanded the diameter of the stem to match the diameter of the inset. Once it fit snug in the shank it was ready to be polished. Once I had adjusted the diameter of the stem I fit it in the inset shank end and took photos of the look of the pipe with the new stem in place. I like the grey brown acrylic stem and its flow with the shape of the pipe. I still need to polish the stem but it is looking good. I put the stem aside to finish later and returned to the bowl. To finish it at this point I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it into the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl.I set the finished bowl aside and we back to the stem. I started the polishing of the stem with 2 inch sanding pads – dry sanding with 320-3500 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad.I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem at this point in the process. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry. I put the new stem back on the Malaga Second Freehand and took it to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the acrylic. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful Malaga Second Freehand – the acrylic taper stem and smooth finish combine to give the pipe a great look. I honestly have no idea why it is labeled a second as there are no fills or flaws in the briar. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches wide x 2 inches long, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.48 ounces/43 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting on the rebornpipes online store in the American Pipe Makers and Pipemaking Companies Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

Can this Danmore 3090 Be Brought Back to Life?

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

Sometimes I look at a pipe we purchased and wonder what we were thinking when we went for it. That was the case with this Danmore 3090 freehand. We purchased it from an online auction in Los Fresnos, Texas, USA on 01/10/2018. You can see from the fact that it has been sitting here in a bag since 2018. When Jeff received it, the pipe was in pieces and he put it together for these photos. The bowl was intact with no cracks or serious nicks. The horn shank extension had come unglued and looked like it might have some delaminating happening on the long portion that held the stem. The pipe was stamped on the underside of the shank with the shape number 3090 followed by Danmore [over] Handmade Denmark. The stem had a rubber tube fit on the end that had originally been in the shank extension but was now stuck on the stem. The stem itself had been chewed or broken off and was probably missing at least ½ inch of its length. It still had the Danmore Logo on the top of the taper but that was all it had going for it. The bowl was thickly cake and there was a thick lava coat on the rim top obscuring the edges of the bowl. It had obviously been someone’s favourite pipe and had been smoked to death. The finish was filthy with grime and hand oils ground into the smooth panels and the sandblast making it all almost smooth to touch. It was impossible to know if the rim top was smooth or sandblast as there was so much tar on it. The inside of the shank that held the extension was filled with tars and oils and the inside of the horn shank extension was the same. Jeff got some good photos of the pipe before he did his clean up work and I have to hand it to him it looked pretty interesting. The question in my mind really was whether it was redeemable. The bones were nice but what was underneath once it was cleaned remained a haunting question. He took photos of the rim top and bowl and you can see what I mean by the thickness of the cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top. It is so thick that it is flaking off in chunks only to reveal another layer! You can also see the broken off/chewed off condition of the stem in the photos he included. He included photos of the sides of the bowl and the contrasting patches on the bowl sides along with an interesting sandblast. The only thing that can be said is that the stamping on the underside of the shank is clear and readable as noted above and the Danmore D logo is very readable on the chewed off stem. You can also see the separation of the horn shank extension for the shank end in these photos. Lots of work to be done in the resurrection.The horn shank extension was originally lined with a Delrin or rubber liner to stabilize the horn from the inside. It would have been glued in place in the horn and not moved when the stem was removed. In the photo above and those that follow you can see that the liner piece has crept up the stem to where there is very little that is actually in the horn itself. I am hoping that once it is here I can work it off the stem and reinsert it in the horn again. We shall see.Jeff let the pipe fall back into its parts and took photos of it. You can see the bowl and its filthiness, the stem with the creeping rubber insert from the horn and the tired looking horn extension. In the second photo you can see the filth in the inside of the horn and into the shank itself… lots of work in cleaning it and not making things worse.I knew that the pipe was a Danish Made pipe but it has been awhile since I worked on a Danmore pipe. I turned first to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-d2.html). There was a very short clip there with one photo of a pipe very different from the one I am working on. It simply states that the factory is closed and that the pipes are made by third parties. Not too much helpful information there that is for sure.I then turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Danmore) and was much more successful. The article is short and succinct but very helpful. I have included it below for ease of reference.

Danmore was founded by Hans Sørensen in the early 1970s, and produced pipes from that time until the early 1980s, at one point having up to 30 employees. The pipes were sold in the first Dan Pipe catalog. In the early 1980’s, however, production ceased in Denmark due to labor costs, and the company’s production was outsourced to Italy and Spain, and they began to also make pipecleaners and smokers articles.

Sørensen focused on the pipecleaner side of the concern, and eventually bought a share in the factory in the Far East making them. Today the company, owned by Hans’ sons Jesper and Lars Sørensen, no longer makes pipes, and instead makes only pipe cleaners under the name Danmore Hobby Aps, selling only to hobby and craftshops in Denmark and Scandinavia.

Hans Sørensen passed away in 2012. The Sørensen family continues to own the trademarks for the use of the Danmore name in relation to pipes, matches, and tobacco.

Now I knew that the pipe was made by Hans Sorensen and was made between the early 1970s and early 1980s when production ceased in Denmark due to labor costs. From that point on the pipes were outsourced to Italy and Spain. So, I guess the pipe was made during the 10 year or so window when the pipes were handmade in Denmark. All of that info makes me a bit more interested in resurrecting this pipe.

When it arrived here it was in a plastic sandwich bag and I promptly put it aside in a drawer of pipes to work on. Periodically I would take the bag out and dump out the parts and look it over. Everytime other than today I have just put it back in the drawer, shaking my head. I think it could be fixed but did I want to was the serious question that haunted me each time I looked at it. From 2018-2024 my answer was categorically, NOT INTERESTED! So, what changed today? Got me! Last evening, I took it out of the baggie and looked it over, put the pieces together and took some photos. Something about it caught my eye this time around and I wanted to see if I could bring it back to life. I sent Jeff a note and he sent me the photos above.

Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the horn shank extension and the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better when it arrived. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show how good it looked. The sandblast rim top was clean and the inner edges aw also in good condition. The stain had faded some but it would not be too much to bring it back. The shank extension was very loose with nothing holding it in place in the shank. The stem was another story. The end had been either gnawed off or broken off and still smoked that way. It cleaned up well for sure – looked much better. It would need to be replaced.Though the photo below is a bit blurry the stamping is very clear on the underside of the shank. I removed the stem from the shank end and took a photo of the pipe and extension with the stem below to get a sense of what was there now.Now it was time to put the pieces back together again. For me this is the challenge that I enjoy. Will I be able to reconstruct the pipe back to functionality without changing the plan that crafted it originally? I love that challenge. In this case I decided to start with regluing and rebuilding the shank extension. I am very thankful that it was not delaminating. The horn was dry but still very stable which took away a very time-consuming part of the work. I worked on removing the old glue from the shank end and the tenon of the extension. I used a dental spatula and small blade to scrape the surfaces and then scrubbed them with 99% isopropyl alcohol and cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I also worked on the airway in the mortise of the briar so that the extension would have a very clean surface to bond with.Once the mortise was dried out I used some all-purpose white glue and painted the inside of the mortise and the tenon on the extension with it. I pressed the parts together and held them with pressure until the glue cured. Once it had hardened sufficiently to take the pressure off and wiped off the excess glue that had squeezed out with a damp cotton pad. I took photos of the pipe at this point. I cleaned up the Delrin/rubber ring that fit in the shank end and gave it a thin coat of all-purpose glue. I pressed it into the shank extension end and set it aside to cure. Once the glue hardened I polished the joint of the horn extension and the briar with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the horn down after each sanding pad with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. The horn began to take on a shine. I polished the smooth panels on the bowl sides and the horn shank extension with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the horn down after each sanding pads with Obsidian Oil. It began to take on a shine as I worked through the pads. I used a Walnut Stain Pen to touch up the spotty finish around the bowl and shank and on the faded rim top. It looked significantly better once the stain cured. The colour looked much better. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I went through my collection of stems to find one that would work on the pipe. The one I found is identical to the broken one. It has the same shape as the broken one with the fishtail button. It was about ½ inch longer that accommodated the broken portion of the stem. It would need to be cleaned up and polished but it was a good match.I cleaned out the internals of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. It smelled and looked much better.I started working on polishing the stem with my 320-2500 grit sanding pads. I was able to remove the scratches and light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. It looked much better at this point in the process. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry. This beautiful sandblast Danmore 3090 Freehand with a horn shank extension and a military mount stem turned out very nice. It came together amazingly well – far better than when I began. The mix of brown stains highlights the grain around the bowl sides and bottom. The rim top and edges look very good. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Danmore 3090 Freehand is very nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. It is a nice pipe whose dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 48 grams/1.69 ounces. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store, in the Danish Pipe Makers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know by message or by email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for your time.

New Life for a Republic Era “Peterson’s Product” Shamrock 53 Lovat

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

I am working through the remaining Peterson’s Pipes I have in my bins of pipes to work on. All that remain are pipes that neither Jeff or I remember where we obtained them. I chose to work on this nice looking Lovat with a fishtail style taper stem from that group of pipes. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and read SHAMROCK. It was also stamped on the right side and reads “A PETERSON’S [over] PRODUCT” over MADE IN THE REP. OF IRELAND (3 lines) with the shape number 53 next to the bowl. There was also the Shamrock logo “S” on the left side of the saddle stem. The bowl had been reamed and cleaned as obviously Jeff had done his magic on it before I got it. He had scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. The rim top showed darkening and some damage on the inner and outer edges. He had rinsed it with warm water. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The vulcanite stem is lightly oxidized from sitting around here for years and has some light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There is also a stamped Shamrock “S” logo on the left side of the stem. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took photos of the rim top and the bowl to show the condition. The rim top had some nicks on it and some damage on the inner edge of the rim making it slightly out of round. There was also darkening on the bowl top. I also took photos of both sides of the stem to show the light oxidation and tooth chatter. Over all the pipe was in good condition.I took photos of the sides of the shank to show the stamping. The stamping is readable in the photos below and is as noted above. I took the stem off the pipe and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of proportion.I am including the link to the Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson).

I turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Peterson’s Shamrock Pipe. On page 312 it had the following information.

Shamrock (c1941-2009) Originally stamped SHAMROCK with no brand name, an inexpensive line first described in George Yale (New York) mail order booklet in 1941, imported by Rogers Import. The line was actively promoted beginning in ’45, aggressively promoted in US by Rogers from early ‘50s when they registered the Shamrock logo with US Patent Office, claiming propriety since ’38. Over the years offered with P-lip or fishtail mouthpiece, with or without nickel band, with or without shamrock logo on the band, with or without S stamped in white or later in gold on mouthpiece. Appearing in 2008 as unstained smooth and rustic, fishtail mouthpiece with gold impressed P on the stem. COMS of MADE IN over IRELAND (C1945-1965), MADE IN IRELAND forming a circle (c1945-1965), “A PETERSON’S PRODUCT” over MADE IN IRELAND (c1945-1965), MADE IN THE over REPUBLIC over OF IRELAND c1948-1998). Model is always difficult or impossible to date.

Judging from the description above, the pipe I am working on is stamped with the stamp noted in red above. It reads “A Peterson’s Product” over Made in the Rep. Of Ireland which narrows the date to between approximately 1948-1998. It is just stamped SHAMROCK on the shank side and has an “S” logo on the left side of the taper stem.

I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening and damage on the inner and outer edge of the rim. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out and clean up the edge. I also used a wooden ball and a piece of sand paper to give the inner edge a light bevel. It looked much better! I decided to leave the sandpits on the bowl side and filling them seemed unnecessary to me. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. (Note the sandpit on the left side of the shank near the bowl.) I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and started working on the stem. I touched up the Shamrock “S” logo on the right side of the stem with white acrylic nail polish. Once it dried, I scraped off the excess wand sanded it clean with a worn 1500 girt micromesh sanding pad.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished hand polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I wiped it on with my fingers and buffed it off with a soft cloth. The stem really began to have a deep glow. I gave it a final wipe down with Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.I am excited to finish this Republic Era a “Peterson’s Product” Shamrock 53 Lovat. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful flame grain all around it. Added to that the polished Sterling Silver band and the black vulcanite stem was beautiful. This smooth Classic Shamrock 53 Lovat is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 41grams/1.45 ounces. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your rack let me know by message or by email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for your time and as Paresh says each time he writes – Stay Safe.

New Life for a “Peterson’s Product” Shamrock 338 Bent Billiard

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

I am working through the remaining Peterson’s Pipes I have in my bins of pipes to work on. All that remain are pipes that neither Jeff or I remember where we obtained them. I chose to work on this nice looking Bent Billiard with a P-lip style taper stem from that group of pipes. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and read SHAMROCK. It was also stamped on the right side and reads “A PETERSON’S [over] PRODUCT” over MADE IN THE REP. OF IRELAND (3 lines) with the shape number 338 next to the bowl. The bowl had been reamed and cleaned as obviously Jeff had done his magic on it before I got it. He had scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. He had rinsed it with warm water. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The vulcanite stem is lightly oxidized from sitting around here for years and has some light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There is also a stamped Shamrock “S” logo on the right side of the stem. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took photos of the rim top and the bowl to show the condition. The rim top was smooth and clean. There were nicks on the rim top and some damage on the inner edge of the rim making it slightly out of round. There was also damage on the front outer edge of the bowl. I also took photos of both sides of the stem to show the light oxidation and tooth chatter. Over all the pipe was in good condition.I took photos of the sides of the shank to show the stamping. The stamping is readable in the photos below and is as noted above. I took the stem off the pipe and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of proportion. I am including the link to the Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson).

I turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Peterson’s Shamrock Pipe. On page 312 it had the following information.

I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening and damage on the inner and outer edge of the rim. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out and clean up the edge. I also used a wooden ball and a piece of sand paper to give the inner edge a light bevel. It looked much better!I decided to leave the sandpits on the bowl side and filling them seemed unnecessary to me. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. (Note the sandpit on the left side of the shank near the bowl.) I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and started working on the stem. I scrubbed the oxidation on it with Soft Scrub cleanser and was able to remove the majority of it. I sanded out the tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I wiped it down with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil once I was finished. I set it aside to cure. I touched up the Shamrock “S” logo on the right side of the stem with white acrylic nail polish. Once it dried, I scraped off the excess wand sanded it clean with a worn 1500 girt micromesh sanding pad.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished hand polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I wiped it on with my fingers and buffed it off with a soft cloth. The stem really began to have a deep glow. I gave it a final wipe down with Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.I am excited to finish this Republic Era a “Peterson’s Product” Shamrock 338 Bent Billiard. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful flame grain all around it. Added to that the polished Sterling Silver band and the black vulcanite stem was beautiful. This smooth Classic Shamrock 338 Bent Billiard is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 41grams/1.45 ounces. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your rack let me know by message or by email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for your time and as Paresh says each time he writes – Stay Safe.