Tag Archives: fitting a stem

Restoring and Restemming a Stanwell Regd. No. 969-48 deluxe 87 Billiard

by Steve Laug

Not too long ago I received an email from a Andrew in Greece asking if I could work on some pipes for him. He had some that needed a stem and a couple of pipes with broken stems and a Canadian that had a crack down the back of the bowl and across the right side. We emailed back and forth and he sent me the following photos. I figured they would be some interesting pipes to work on so he sent them to me to work on. I received the box yesterday. When I opened it this morning I was amazed to see what he had sent. The Sandblast Canadian that needed restemming was stamped 264 Peterson’s Kapruf. The rest of the stamping was quite faint. The pipe needed to be restemmed and it had a small divot in the shank end and what looked like a crack. The second, a smooth Canadian was a BBB Ultonia 504 with a gold band. The two Sandblast with broken stems turned out to be Stanwells. The larger on is stamped Stanwell [over] Regd. No. 969-48. It is followed by the shape number 858 [over] Old Briar. The smaller one is stamped Stanwell [over] Regd. No. 969-48 followed by de Luxe followed by the shape number 87. The last of the five with the cracked bowl is an 8 Dot Sasieni [over] London Made [over] Pat. No. 1513428. It was also stamped “Amesbury”. They were going to be an interesting lot to work on.

I chose to deal with the smaller Stanwell de Luxe 87 billiard next. It was in decent condition, probably the best of the lot. The stamping on the Stanwell [over] Regd. No. 969-48 followed by de Luxe followed by the shape number 87. It was clear and readable. The sandblast finish was nice but dirty. The bowl had a light cake in it and there were spots of lava in the sandblast on the rim top and inner edge. The inner edge was a little rough from previous reaming. The interior of the shank was quite dirty. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of them bowl. The lava on the rim top was in the sandblast. The inner edge looked very good. I also took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the faint stamping that was present. It is faint in spots but is still readable.I turned to do a bit of research on the Stanwell de Luxe line first to Pipephil’s site and found a listing there with a photo of the stamping (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-stanwell.html).I know that Pipedia has some great history (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell) on the brand so I turned there hoping to see the de Luxe. There were several examples of the de Luxe line shown on the site and references to it appearing in both a 1960s and 70s catalogue.

I turned to the article on designers and shape numbers to see if I could find data on the 87 Shape (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell_Shape_Numbers_and_Designers). I found that the shape had four versions of this shape number a) Large billiard, full mouthpiece, b) Large “Chimney”, full mouthpiece, c) Freehand, conical bowl, long saddle mouthpiece by Sixten Ivarsson. 87R. Same as 87(b).

I knew that the pipe I had in hand was pipe a) above – a Billiard and in this case small one. With the Regd. No. on the shank, the pipe was made in the period between 1948 and 1960. But I wanted to know more. I can find many examples of the de Luxe line online but no one explains the meaning of the term. Do any of you readers have any information on this quandary? Post a response and let us in on the information.

Now it was time to work on the pipe. I started my work on the pipe by reaming it with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I scraped the lava built up on the rim top with the edge of the knife. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel to clean up the remaining bits. It looked much better after the clean up.I cleaned out the internals of the shank and bowl with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. The pipe is very clean. I like it clean to make a better fit for new stem. I cleaned out the airway in the stem I had chosen with pipe cleaners and alcohol.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my finger tips and a shoe brush to work it into the sandblast. The product is incredible and the way it brings the grain to the fore is unique. It works to clean, protect and invigorate the wood. I went through my stems and found one that was the right length and would need some slight adjusting to fit the diameter of the shank and the tenon.I used a Dremel and sanding drum along with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to shape and rework the stem and tenon to fit the shank end. Once I was finished with the reshaping I took photos of the look of the stem.I sanded the stem with 320-1500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil Cloth to remove the sanding dust. It began to look very good. 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 an Obsidian Oil Cloth. The stem began to take on a rich shine. This Sandblast Stanwell Regd. No. 969-48 de Luxe 87 Billiard with a new vulcanite taper stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restemmed and restored. The beautiful sandblast on the briar shines through the polished finish is stunning. 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 the 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 Stanwell Regd. No 969-48 de Luxe 87 Billiard fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: 5/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 22 grams/.78 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that I will hold until I have finished working on the final pipe that Andrew sent me. Once I am finished with the lot they will be heading back to Greece. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Working on a Majestic Designer Series D Ben Wade Made in Denmark

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is a pipe that came to us from a group of pipes we purchased from Facebook Instant Collections in Quaker Town, Pennsylvania, USA on 01/20/2026. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and read Majestic [over] Designer Series D [over] Ben Wade [over] Hand Made In Denmark. The finish on the pipe was a sandblast Ben Wade style finish with brown stains highlighting the grain around the sides and shank. The shank end is smooth. The rim top was sandblast and flat. It was dirty with grime and also lava overflowing from the cake in the bowl. The fancy saddle stem was brown/gold variegated acrylic and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. It has a white Ben Wade crown with a BW underneath stamped on the top of the saddle. It was a pretty stem but was dull and dirty. Jeff took some photos of the pipe to show the general condition of the pipe before he started his clean up. It should clean up very well. Jeff took some close-up photos of the rim top and bowl to show the overall condition. There is dust and lava on the crowned top. The edges have a lava overflow but underneath it appears to be in good condition. The acrylic saddle stem is dirty and has some light tooth chatter and some tooth marks. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the sandblast finish on the pipe. The photos show the beautiful grain in the sandblast around the bowl. Under the dust and grime, it was a nice looking bowl. I think it will be a beautiful long shank Dublin once it is restored. He took a photo of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. There was also a Crown with a BW stamped below it on the topside of the saddle portion of the stem.I knew from the previous work that I should take time and check out my common sites for information. I turned first to Pipephil’s site in the Ben Wade Section and found an entry there on the brand (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-benwade.html#majestic). There was a section in the list stamped Danish Made Majestic. I did a screen capture of the section and have included it below.From there I turned to the section the reference above directed me to under the heading Majestic with a link to the Ben Wade stamp. I have also included that link and the screen captures of the site below (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-m1.html#majestic).From there I turned to Pipedia to see what I could find (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Wade). I found some photos of a pipe that is stamped the same as the one that I have. I have included them below showing the shape of the pipe and the stamping on the pipe.Now that I was reminded about the Ben Wade Majestic Line it was time to work on the pipe on my end. When I received it, Jeff had once again done an amazing job cleaning the pipe. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and got rid of the cake. He cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife so that we could see the walls of the bowl and assess for damage. He cleaned the internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners, cotton swabs, shank brushes and alcohol. He scrubbed the exterior with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. He rinsed the pipe under warm water. He dried it off with a cloth and then let it air dry. The stem was scrubbed with Soft Scrub and soaked in Before & After Deoxidizer. It came out looking very good. The finish on the bowl and the rim top cleaned up nicely. I took pictures of the pipe to show how it looked when I unpacked it. I took a close up photo of the plateau rim top to show how clean it was. The inner edge of the rim and the ridges and valleys of the sandblast looked good. The stem looked good just some light tooth chatter and tooth marks ahead of the button.One of the things I appreciate about Jeff’s cleanup is that he works to protect and preserve the nomenclature on the shank of the pipes that he works on. He was able to preserve and maintain its condition in the process. I took some photos to show the clarity of the stamping. I have noticed that many restorers are not careful to protect the stamping in their cleaning process and often by the end of the restoration the nomenclature is almost destroyed. Be careful in your work to preserve this critical part of restoration! I took the stem off and took a photo of the pipe.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the smooth briar with my fingertips. It enlivens, enriches and protects the briar while giving it a deep glow. I appreciate Mark Hoover’s work in developing this product. I buffed the pipe with a micro fibre cloth to raise the shine and took photos of it at this point it the process. It is a beautiful looking pipe. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem with the 2 inch square 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped down the stem after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. The stem looked very good.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 polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I buffed the stem with a soft cloth to raise the shine. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil to preserve and protect the stem surface. I am on the homestretch with this Ben Wade Majestic Design Series D Made in Denmark Long Shank Dublin. As always, I am excited to finish a pipe that I am working on. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I used a gentle touch on the sandblast bowl and shank. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like along with the polished bronze acrylic stem. This Ben Made Majestic Design Series D Ben Wade Long Shank Dublin is a nice looking pipe. It is quite comfortable in hand and should be so when smoking. It is quite light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 7 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.90 ounces/54 grams. It is another beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store soon. You can find it in the section of Pipes by Danish Pipe Makers. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know.

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.

Restemming and Restoring a Danish Pride by Ben Wade Hand Made in Denmark Bowl

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by Steve Laug

This particular mixed finished Freehand pipe was purchased on 01/20/2026 from a Facebook seller in Quaker Town, Pennsylvania, USA. It really is another beautiful smaller Freehand Bowl that combines a plateau rim top and smooth patches that flow up from the bowl sides. The shank end is sandblasted like the bowl and shank with a spot of plateau. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the left side of the shank and reads Danish Pride [over] by [over] Ben Wade [over] Hand Made [over] In [over] Denmark. The bowl is a mix of sandblast on the majority with some smooth grooves on the front and sides. The shank is also sandblasted with the underside being smooth for the stamping. The bowl had a moderate cake and some spots of lava overflow in the plateau rim top and inner edge of the bowl. There was grime ground into the finish and dust and debris in the plateau valleys on the shank end. The finish was a rich oxblood colour that really highlighted the grain in the sandblast. The stem was missing so I would need to fit a suitable replacement. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his work on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl, rim top and the stem to show the condition of the pipe when we received it. You can see the cake in the bowl and the spotty lava on the plateau rim top and inner edge of the bowl. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the grain in the sandblast and the smooth portions. It is a beautiful bowl. It is a smaller size freehand and one that catches my eye. Have a look. The next photos Jeff took show the stamping on a smooth portion on the underside of the shank. The stamping is faint in places but still readable as noted above. In a previous blog I had researched the brand quite a bit. I have included it below for information on this pipe (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/10/03/restoring-a-danish-pride-by-ben-wade-mixed-finish-handmade-freehand-sitter/). I quote:

I remembered that the Preben Holm pipes were marketed under the Ben Wade label in the US and imported through Lane Ltd. I turned to Pipedia and read the listing on the brand to refresh my memory and flesh out the knowledge of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Wade). I have included a photo from that site that was taken from a Tinderbox advertisement.I quote the portion of the article that summarizes the Danish period of the history of the brand:

Young Copenhagen master pipemaker Preben Holm had made a meteoric career heading a pipe manufacture employing 45 people at the age of 22! But around the turn of 1970/71 he was in major financial difficulties. His US distributor, Snug Harbour Ltd. in New York City, left him in the lurch. Holm had three unpaid invoices on his desk and another large shipment was ready for the USA, when Snug Harbour’s manager told him on the phone that there was no money at all on the account to pay him.

So the Dane went to New York for an almost desperate search for a new distribution partner. He made contacts with Lane Ltd. and met Herman G. Lane in February 1971. Lane Ltd. had no interest in Holm’s serial pipes produced at that time but so much the more in the hand-carved freehands because the hype for Danish freehands and fancies in the States was still on its way to the climax then. The meeting resulted in an agreement to start a cooperation. Lane insisted to improve the quality considerably and in return he assured to be able to sell essentially larger quantities.

Holm went back home to work on new samples with all-new designs and altered finishes for Lane. Both, Lane and Holm, agreed that it would be unwise to sell the pipes under Preben Holm’s name as long as Snug Harbour had a considerable stock of Preben Holm pipes and might sell them pipes at very low prices just to bring in some money.

So on Mr. Lane’s proposal it was determined to use the name Ben Wade belonging to Lane Ltd. Lane spent considerable amounts of money for advertising the new brand in the big magazines– the centerpiece being whole-page ads showing a very exclusive Seven Day’s Set.

The cooperation with Lane Ltd. proved to be an eminent business success for both partners. Within a very short time Ben Wade Handmade Denmark sold in much larger quantities and at higher prices than they had ever dreamed of. And the hype these freehands and fancy pipes caused went on unbroken long after Herman G. Lane deceased. Preben Holm – obviously much more brilliant in pipe making than in pipe business – was in major troubles again in 1986 and had to sack most of his staff. The Ben Wade production was significantly lowered but continued until his untimely death in June of 1989.

Up to now Preben Holm made Ben Wade pipes are cult and highly sought for on the estate markets.

With that information my initial thoughts were confirmed. This pipe was a Preben Holm made Freehand distributed in the US by Lane Ltd under the name Ben Wade. The freehand rage occurred in the late 70s and the pipes were made until Preben’s death in 1989. My guess would be that this pipe was made sometime during that time period and potentially in the late 70s.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe following his normal cleaning process. In short, he reamed the bowl and then cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He worked over the lava and debris on the plateau rim top and shank end and was able to remove it. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and cotton pads to remove the debris and oils on the stem. He soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer to remove the remaining oxidation. He rinsed it with warm water and dried it off. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. It really looked good. I took close up photos of the stem and the rim top to show both how clean they were. The rim top and bowl look good. The shank end was sandblasted and had a spot of plateau on the top right.I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. You can see from the photo that it is faint but readable. It is clearer on the top half of the stamp than the lower but it is still readable. I went through my stems and found a variegated cream and brown acrylic taper that would work well with the bowl. It would take some work to fit it but I took a photo of the parts to give a sense of the beauty of the pipe. The bowl was in such good condition after the clean up that I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my finger tips and a horse hair shoe brush to get into the crevices of the plateau and sandblast portions. The product is incredible and the way it brings the grain to the fore is unique. It works to clean, protect and invigorate the wood. I set the bowl aside and started working on the stem. I used a flat file to shape the stem to fit in the shank. It took some work to shape it but it looked much better. I cleaned up the stem work with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to finish blending it into the surface of the stem. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2-inch sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil cloth.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it 1500-12000 pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian after each pad to remove the dust and polishing debris. I polished it with Before After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil. I am happy with the way that this Preben Holm Made Danish Pride by Ben Wade Freehand turned out. It really is a beautiful looking pipe with a great shape and mix of smooth and sandblast finishes around the bowl and shank. The rugged plateau on the rim top and shank end are beautiful. The fancy original vulcanite saddle stem works well with the reddish brown of the stained briar. The pipe really came alive with the buffing. The rich brown stains of the finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Danish Pride by Ben Wade really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ 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 48 grams/1.69 ounces. The pipe will be staying with me, at least for awhile as I appreciate the craftsmanship. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!

Fresh Life for a Karl Erik Hand Made in Denmark Freehand Sitter

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is an elegantly shaped Dublin/Freehand. It came to us from a seller in Downey, California, USA on 08/12/2025. The finish had a combination of smooth and rusticated spots on the heel of the bowl and the shank – as well as two on the front mid bowl. Otherwise it has some great straight grain around the bowl and shank. It acts as a sitter on base as well as the forward angle of the bowl bottom. The rim top is unstained plateau while the shank end is smooth. The shank underside is stamped Karl Erik over Handmade in Denmark. The bowl had grime and oils ground into the sides. There was a moderate cake in the bowl and a light lava overflow and darkening on the inner edge and rim top. The fancy, turned saddle stem was lightly oxidized and there was tooth chatter on both sides near the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up. The next photo shows the rim top and the bowl. You can see the cake in the bowl and the light overflow of lava on the inner edge of the rim along with some darkening. The photos of the stem show the oxidation and calcification with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. Jeff took pictures of the bowl from various angles to show the condition and the overall look of the pipe. You can see the small rusticated patches in the photos. It was a beauty and elegant underneath the grime. The underside of the shank is stamped Karl Erik over Handmade in Denmark. It is clear and readable.I reread a blog that Robert M. Boughton wrote on rebornpipes on his “Grade O” Karl Erik to refresh my memory on the brand and the grading system (https://rebornpipes.com/2018/07/28/a-three-card-draw-for-an-inside-straight-with-an-old-karl-erik-hand-made-grade-o-freehand/). It was enlightening and from there I went on and looked up the brand on both Pipephil’s site and Pipedia to add some details to my knowledge.

Photo from Pipedia

From the Pipephil site I got a quick overview of the brand. (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-k1.html). I quote:

Brand created in 1965-66 by Karl Erik Ottendahl (1942–2004 †). In the best years he employed up to 15 craftsmen among which Bent Nielsen (see Benner) and Peder Christian Jeppesen. Former grading (ascending): from 4 to 1, and “Ekstravagant” (entirely handmade

From Pipedia here is a bit more detailed history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Erik). I quote from there below.

Karl Erik Ottendahl (1942–2004) was born in Aalborg (Jutland), just a few miles from the very northernmost tip of Denmark. He began smoking a pipe when he was 14 and upon leaving school he started an apprenticeship…as a lithographer at the age of 16.

While working as an apprentice he began hand carving pipes as a hobby. Many were given as gifts to his more senior colleagues. Upon completion of his apprenticeship he moved to Nairobi, Kenya to work as a lithographer during the 1962 war. While in that war torn country, he was unable to procure pipes for himself. In the face of such a predicament, he chose to continue to make pipes for his own use rather than go without.

Returning to Denmark after three years he couldn’t find a well paid… job, and so he began making a few pipes on the side to boost his income choosing his prenames “Karl Erik” – logo “KE” – for his label. When he managed to find some major Copenhagen pipe stores willing to sell his pieces his reputation grew little by little and he was finally able to purchase more and better machinery and began working full time as a pipe maker.

Pipedia also included a short description of the grading system that was used. From what I can discern the numbers ascended (6-1) and the letters ascended as well. There is no grade stamp on this pipe however.

KE’s new grading used numbers ascending from D to A. The unique “Ekstravagant” pipes C, B, A, AA to AAA. These superb pieces of remarkable quality were, almost certainly, the least expensive high- quality hand made pipes coming from Denmark today!

Jeff had thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants 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 in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub to remove as much of the oxidation and calcification as possible. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took photos of the pipe once I started to work on it.

I took some photos of the rim top and stem. The rim top and bowl looked good. The cake and lava overflow were gone but the rim top and the inner edge looked clean. The closeup photos of the stem shows that it is a much cleaner and looks good. The very light tooth marks and chatter were still present on both sides.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank to show the condition after the cleanup. It was very readable and undamaged. I took the stem off the shank and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. I started my restoration work on this pipe by sanding the bowl and shank with 320-3500 grit 2 x 2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad. It began to look very good. I started my polishing regimen on the bowl. I used nine micromesh sanding pads and dry sanded the bowl with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. The bowl really shines by the final three pads. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while 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 the stem. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads to remove the scratching and light tooth marks. I wiped the stem with Obsidian Oil down after each sanding pad to remove the debris. It looked much better.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped them down after each sanding pad with a cloth containing some Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Oil to preserve and protect the stem. I don’t know how many times I have said this but I love it when I come to the end of a restoration and all of the parts come together and the pipe looks better than when we started the cleanup process. I put the stem back on the Karl Erik Handmade in Denmark Freehand Sitter and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I carefully avoided the stamping on the shank sides during the process. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad on the buffer. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is a real stunning example of a Danish Karl Erik Handmade Freehand Sitter. Once again, the grain and the way the shape follows the grain is amazing. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches wide x 1 ¾ inches long, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.72 ounces/78 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I will be putting this one on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipemakers Section. Let me know if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for your time.

A Unique and Beautiful Sandblast Malaga Second on the work table now

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is an interesting Malaga Second Sandblast Dublin. Jeff saw it on eBay and purchased it on 08/22/2024 from a seller in Harrison Township, Michigan, USA. The grain on this pipe is quite nice beneath the oil cured finish. The pipe is stamped on the right side of the shank and reads Malaga [over] Second. It is a nice one in terms of the well-done ½ Bent Dublin. The bowl and shank were in good condition. The finish was in good condition though dirty with dust in the depths of the sandblast. The bowl had a thick cake that over flowed over the top of the sandblast rim in a lava coat. The rim top and inner edge of the bowl appeared to be in good condition under the grime. The saddle stem was vulcanite and was lightly oxidized and calcified. There were tooth marks and chatter on the top and the underside ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. Jeff took photos of the rim and bowl to show the cake and lava coat in the sandblast on the rim top and edges. The inner edge of the rim was caked and lava coated but seemed to be okay underneath. It was a dirty pipe but still a beauty. The vulcanite saddle stem was lightly oxidized, calcified and had some tooth marks and chatter on both side against the button. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show how the sandblast has followed the grain around the bowl and shank. The oil curing/finish makes the grain really stand out on the smooth panels on the sides of the bowl and underside of the shank. Jeff took a photo of the stamping on the right side of the shank and it is clear and readable as noted above. 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. (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/02/27/malaga-pipes-catalogue-of-pipes-and-tobaccos/).

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe using his usual process. 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. He cleaned up the stem with Soft Scrub to remove the oxidation and the calcification on the surface. He cleaned out airway in the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol. It looked clean. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. I took a photo of the bowl, 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 and the inner and outer edges of the bowl showed no burn damage. The stem looked better and the tooth marks are very visible on both sides ahead of the button. There was also a hairline crack in the topside of the stem mid blade.I took a photo of the stamping on the top side of the shank to show that it was clean and faint in spots but still readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of what the pipe looks like. The condition of the bowl was excellent after the cleanup. The only thing that look like it needed work were the smooth patches on the sides and underside of the shank. They showed sanding marks and scratching. I would need to smooth out the marks and polish the smooth portions. I used 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads to smooth them out. It looked much better. I polished them further with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded with each pad and wiped the smooth spots down with a damp cloth to remove and sanding debris. While not flawless it looked much better. 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 turned my attention to the stem. I examined it and found that the blade was cracked at the bend. It would need to be replaced. To replace the stem I need to find one that would work. I went through my stems and found one that look workable. It was a little larger in diameter at the saddle than the broken one but with some work it would fit well. I reduced the diameter of the tenon and the diameter of the saddle portions with a Dremel and a sanding drum. I needed to sand out the sanding marks and make the fit smooth to the shank and mortise. I took a photo of the fit of the stem at this point. It needed more sanding to get a smooth transition with the shank but it looked quite good. I set the bowl aside and worked on the tooth marks on the stem. I “painted” them with the flame of a lighter to lift them. They came up a bit and I filled in what remained with the extra strength rubberized Black CA glue. Once the repairs cured I flattened them out and redefined the button edge with small flat files. I sanded them smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I sanded the stem with 2 x 2 inch sanding pads – dry sanding with 320-3500 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil cloth.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 new stem back on the Malaga Second Sandblast Dublin 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 Second Sandblast Dublin and the vulcanite saddle stem and smooth patches in the sandblast finish combine to give the pipe a great look. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.26 ounces/64 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!

Caminetto New Dear Hand Made in Italy with an amber acrylic saddle stem

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the worktable is a nice looking Caminetto New Dear Billiard that has the unique finish that I have seen on Caminetto and Ardor New Dear pipes. We purchased from a seller in Macon, Georgia, USA on 03/08/2025. In the lot of pipes there were at least three of the New Dear series pipes. This one has an amber acrylic stem. The stamping on the pipe was very clear and readable. On the left side of the shank it reads Caminetto. [over] New Dear and below that and to the left it is stamped KS and a faint shield. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Hand Made in Italy [over] Cucciago (Co). The finish was in good condition though it was grimy and dusty. The grain shone through the grime and was beautiful. There was a thick cake in the bowl with spotty lava overflow on the rusticated rim top. The inner edge appeared to be in good condition. The amber acrylic fancy saddle was lacking the moustache logo. The stem was dirty and had some light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. It had a lot of potential. Jeff took photos of the pipe as he saw it at this stage of his examination. The first two photos are out of focus but you can see the shape clearly. Jeff took close up photos of the rim top from various angles to show the general condition of the bowl and rim. The rim top is rusticated and fits the rest of the finish. It is made to look a bit like a plateau finish. The photos show the heavy cake in the bowl and the lava build up in the rusticated finish on the rim top. The acrylic stem was dirty and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took a photo of the sides and heel of the bowl to give an idea of the beauty of the New Dear style of rustication on the heel and sides of the bowl. The stamping on the sides of the shank is clear and readable as noted above. I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-c1.html) to see what I could learn about the Caminetto New Dear. There were no photos of the New Dear line but still the photos showed the other stamping on the pipe clearly. I have included the sidebar information below the screen capture.Brand created in 1968 by Giuseppe Ascorti († 1984), Luigi Radice and Gianni Davoli as distributor.

1979 : End of he first Caminetto period. Luigi Radice left the company. Giuseppe Ascorti produced the Sergio pipes (a short time) and moved into his new workshop with his son Roberto. (See also Capitello)
1986 : New Caminetto period by Roberto Ascorti

With that information in hand I turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Caminetto) to see if I could glean further information on the specific line – New Dear – that I am working on. I quote a section of the article below. I have highlighted the information on the New Dear Line in red below.

There is also another factor in stamping, that is, which series the pipe falls in. The majority of Caminetto’s one sees are those of the “Business” series, which are stamped such with their collective shape (see photo of shapes below). Another stamp that sometimes follows the “Business” one is “KS,” which from what I know means “King-size” (this could be wrong, as there are pipes stamped with KS1, KS2, and KS3).

The other series is what is known as the “Prestige” series, though I have never seen a Caminetto stamped with “Prestige.” It appears that is the name of the collective series of smooth and specialty pipes made by Caminetto and featured in the Tinder Box brochure of old. There are so many different Prestige models, shapes, and finishes, and I have only seen about 5 or 6 of them. The list, per Harvey and other collective resources, is below:

Bagdad (Super Briar and Black Briar Moustache–stained black and smooth)

Damasco (gold ring affixed to top of bowl; smooth)

Double Bowl

Excellence, Excellence Extra, and Excellence Flame (natural, light chestnut or walnut; smooth)

Green Briar and Green Briar Moustache (stained mahogany or walnut; smooth)

Moustache, Moustache KS, KS1, KS2, KS3, and super Moustache (top of the line model; smooth)

New Dear, New Dear KS, KS1, and New Dear Moustache (stained light chestnut with or without black smoke ring on rim; roughly carved)

Red Briar (stained cherry; smooth)

Sable D’Or and Sable D’Or KS, KS1 (black, chestnut, natural, mahogany, red or walnut; sandblast)

Tinder Box Golden Anniversary Drainplug (250 made in black or natural sandblast; 51 made in Sable D’Or sandblast or Excellence smooth finishes)

Torch (stained mahogany or walnut; smooth)

Twin Bowl (only one in existence that I know of, featured in Hacker’s book)

Now it was time to work on the pipe. Jeff had done his usual thorough clean up of the pipe. He had reamed it with a PipNet reamer and finished with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and the interior with isopropyl alcohol, shank brushes, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The rim top and edge of the bowl at the top had a black stain to give it a flumed appearance. It was faint but still visible. He worked on the acrylic stem with Soft Scrub. He rinsed it off with warm water. It has light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. I took photos of the pipe before I started work. I took some close up photos of the bowl/rim top and the stem to show the condition they were in at this point. The rim top and edges looked good and the bowl was clean. You can see the remnants of the fluming on the rim top in the photo. The stem had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank to give a sense of the pipe. I started my work on the pipe by addressing fading of the flume on the rim top and outer edge of the bowl. I used a Walnut stain pen to darken it and match the overall look of the top and edges. Black would have been too much of a contrast but the Walnut worked very well. I polished the smooth portions of the bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit micromesh pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth 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 and a shoe brush 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 sanded the stem with 2 x 2 inch sanding pads – dry sanding with 320-3500 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil cloth. I was able to blend in the tooth marks.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 am excited to put the finishing touches on this Caminetto New Dear KS Billiard with a fancy amber acrylic saddle stem. 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 buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished black, fancy turned vulcanite stem was beautiful. This Caminetto New Dear KS Billiard is nice 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 ½ 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 2.22 ounces/63 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and one that I will be putting in the Italian Pipemaker Section on the rebornpipes store. Thanks for walking through the cleanup with me as I worked over this pipe.

New Life for a Caminetto Super Moustache Dublin Hand Made in Italy

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the worktable is a nice looking Caminetto Dublin that appears to me to be a higher end large, smooth pipe. We purchased from a seller in Macon, Georgia, USA on 03/08/2025. The stamping on the pipe was very clear and readable. On the left side of the shank it reads Caminetto.. [over] Super Moustache. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Hand Made in Italy [over] Cucciago (Co). The finish was in good condition though it was grimy and dusty. The grain shone through the grime and was beautiful. There was a thick cake in the bowl with spotty lava overflow on the rim top. The inner edge had a nick on the left side mid bowl but was otherwise in good condition. The stem had a newer style large, raised moustache logo on the topside of the saddle. There was a white spacer at the end of the stem. The stem was dirty and had some light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. It had a lot of potential. Jeff took photos of the pipe as he saw it at this stage of his examination. Jeff took close up photos of the rim top from various angles to show the general condition of the bowl and rim. The rim top is scooped at the front and back of the bowl with a rise in the middle of each side. The photos show the heavy cake in the bowl and the lava build up on the rim top. The acrylic stem was dirty and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took a photo of the sides and heel of the bowl to give an idea of the beauty of the grain on the heel and sides of the bowl. The stamping on the sides of the shank is clear and readable as noted above. I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-c1.html) to see what I could learn about the Caminetto Super Moustache and the large moustache on the stem. The first item in the screen capture below is stamped the same as the one I am working on. I have included the sidebar information below the screen capture.Brand created in 1968 by Giuseppe Ascorti († 1984), Luigi Radice and Gianni Davoli as distributor.

1979 : End of he first Caminetto period. Luigi Radice left the company. Giuseppe Ascorti produced the Sergio pipes (a short time) and moved into his new workshop with his son Roberto. (See also Capitello)
1986 : New Caminetto period by Roberto Ascorti

With that information in hand I turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Caminetto) to see if I could glean further information on the specific line – Super Moustache – that I am working on. I quote a section of the article below. I have highlighted the information on the Super Moustache in red below.

Bagdad (Super Briar and Black Briar Moustache–stained black and smooth)

Damasco (gold ring affixed to top of bowl; smooth)

Double Bowl

Excellence, Excellence Extra, and Excellence Flame (natural, light chestnut or walnut; smooth)

Green Briar and Green Briar Moustache (stained mahogany or walnut; smooth)

Moustache, Moustache KS, KS1, KS2, KS3, and super Moustache (top of the line model; smooth)

New Dear, New Dear KS, KS1, and New Dear Moustache (stained light chestnut with or without black smoke ring on rim; roughly carved)

Red Briar (stained cherry; smooth)

Sable D’Or and Sable D’Or KS, KS1 (black, chestnut, natural, mahogany, red or walnut; sandblast)

Tinder Box Golden Anniversary Drainplug (250 made in black or natural sandblast; 51 made in Sable D’Or sandblast or Excellence smooth finishes)

Torch (stained mahogany or walnut; smooth)

Twin Bowl (only one in existence that I know of, featured in Hacker’s book)

Now it was time to work on the pipe. Jeff had done his usual thorough clean up of the pipe. He had reamed it with a PipNet reamer and finished with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and the interior with isopropyl alcohol, shank brushes, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He worked on the acrylic stem with Soft Scrub then let it soak in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He rinsed it off with warm water. It has a few tooth marks and chatter on both sides. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work. I took some close up photos of the bowl/rim top and the stem to show the condition they were in at this point. The rim top and edges looked good and the bowl was clean. The one nick in the inner edge on the left side in the middle is visible below. The stem had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I also captured the moustache logo on the top of the saddle stem. I removed the stem from the shank to give a sense of the pipe. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the chip/nick on the left inside edge of the bowl. I sanded it with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper.I sanded the rim and bowl sides with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wanted to minimize some of the scratches in the briar. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth. It really began to shine. I polished the bowl sides and shank with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit micromesh pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth 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 sanded the stem with 2 x 2 inch sanding pads – dry sanding with 320-3500 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil cloth. I was able to blend in the tooth marks.I examined the moustache on the stem and saw white in the grooves. I used some white acrylic fingernail polish and worked it into the indentations in the stem surface with a tooth pick. Once it cured I scraped off the excess and sanded it with a 1000 grit sanding pad. I was able to remove it and the white left behind looked very good. 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. The white band on the end of the stem and the white moustache looked good together. I am excited to put the finishing touches on this Caminetto Super Moustache Dublin with a fancy acrylic saddle stem. 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 buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished black, fancy turned vulcanite stem was beautiful. This Caminetto Super Mousetache Dublin is nice 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: 7 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inch wide x 2 inches long, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.82 ounces/80 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and one that I will be putting in the Italian Pipemaker Section on the rebornpipes store. Thanks for walking through the cleanup with me as I worked over this pipe.

New Life for a Svendborg Danish Hand Carved Sand Blast Bent Dublin with a 9MM filter saddle stem

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one that has travelled much in its life. It went from Denmark to the Philippines and then to the US and now here in Canada. We picked it up in a batch of pipes we purchased from John Mags, a pipemaker in Lapaz, Philippines on 04/24/2025. The sandblast finish around a fluid Danish style Dublin works well to make this a great looking pipe. The pipe was stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank and read P [over] Svendborg [over] Danish [over] Hand Carved. The rich dark brown/black stain on the sandblast finish looked very good. It had a lot of dust and debris in the valleys of the sandblast. The bowl had a moderate cake in it and it overflowed as light lava into the sandblast rim top. It was dirty but very interesting looking. The stem was quite oxidized but still had the Svendborg infinity looking logo on the left side of the saddle. It is a 9MM filter stem. There were light tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the bowl before his clean up work to give a sense of its beauty even with the grime in the finish. He took photos of the rim top and bowl to show clearly the cake in the bowl and the overflow of lava in the sandblast rim top. The condition of the stem is also visible as noted above. The next photos capture the sandblast in the briar on the sides and heel of the bowl. It is a beautiful blast that shows the grain around bowl sides and the heel of a well shaped Dublin. He captured the stamping on the underside of the shank and the shape of the stem in the next photos. The stamping is faint in spots but still readable and reads as is noted above. Before I started working on the pipe I did a bit of research on the brand to remind myself of what I knew of the maker. I turned to Pipephil’s site first (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s14.html). I did a screen capture of the information on the site. I did a screen capture of the pertinent information and have included it below.I copied and pasted the side bar information below:

Brand founded in 1970s by Henrik Jørgensen, Poul Ilsted and Tao Nielsen. They bought an old factory (Nordisc Pibefabriker) in Svendborg on Funen Island. Poul and Tao gradually bow out from machine manufactured pipes (1982) and Henrik Jørgensen manages the brand until its takeover by Design Berlin (D) in the late 90ies. Kaj C. Rasmussen jointed the firm for several years. 17 employees worked for this brand under Henrik Jørgensen direction.

That link gave me a bit of information on the brand – a joint venture of Henrik Jorgensen, Poul Ilsted and Tao Nielsen. I could see from the information that usually the carvers stamped their names on the shank of the pipe. In the case of the one I have there is no name stamp. I wonder if the P stamp above the name would point to possibly Poul Ilsted as the carver. If so it would put the date of the carving before 1982 when Ilsted and Nielsen left. It is stamped Hand Carved which also points to a pre-1982 date.

I then turned to Pipedia and found that an article on the brand that was helpful and interesting to read (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Svendborg). I have included the first part of the article below.

Jens Tao Nielsen and Poul Ilsted Bech met each other when working together for Erik Nørding and soon became close friends. Both felt a bit tired to make nothing but bizarre fancy shapes and agreed they wanted to produce pipes of more style and more classicism. They decided to establish their own brand “Tao & Ilsted” – But how to do it?

A good fortune brought them in contact with Henrik Jørgensen, a passionate pipe lover and a wealthy Copenhagen banker who was willing to retire from bank business and change his career to become a pipemaker. The trio joined in 1969 and decided to start a new pipe brand together. Nielsen and Ilsted started to search for a suitable workshop while Jørgensen took care of the finances. In early 1970 the partners found an old, closed down pipe factory in Svendborg on Funen, and bought it shortly after for a mere 16.500 Danish Kroner. It was the earlier Nordic Pipe Factory – Nordisc Pibefabriker – maybe the oldest Danish pipe factory. And now it became the home of Svendborg Piber.

The article also included this set of pages from a catalogue that were interesting. The philosophy that drove the brand is also there to read. It is well worth the time to pause and read about that passion.Now it was my turn to work on the pipe. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took photos of the bowl and the rim top as well as both sides of the stem to show the condition of the pipe before I started my work. The rim top looked remarkably good. The next photos show the condition of the stem and how clean it came out.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank and the left side of the saddle stem. The photo of the stamping is faint but still readable. I also removed the stem and took a photo of the parts of the pipe.I went over the rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to knock off any debris in the shallow blast. Some came out and it looks quite good.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 then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I touched up the infinity style Svendborg logo stamp on the left side of the saddle stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick. Once it dried I sanded the excess off with a worn 1000 grit sanding pad. It looks significantly better.I sanded the surface of the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth the tooth chatter out and remove remnants of oxidation. When finished the stem looked much better.I fit the tenon with a 9MM filter. The fit was perfect as expected and the airflow was unrestricted.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This Svendborg Danish Hand Carved Dublin P with its fancy, vulcanite 9MM saddle stem is a beautiful sandblast pipe with a flowing shape that looks great. The rich browns and blacks of the contrasting stain makes the grain come alive with the polishing and waxing. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the 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 Svendborg Danish Hand Carved Dublin really is a beauty and fits nicely in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.76 ounces/50 grams. This pipe will soon be on the Danish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Banding a Vauen Mokka 5277Danish Style Ball with a cracked shank

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by Steve Laug

A week ago, or so, I received an email from Derek in Edmonton, Alberta about a pipe that he had. The shank had broken into several pieces and the photo below shows the damage on the pipe. It is a great looking apple shaped pipe that is stamped Vauen Mokka 5277. The finish is sandblast and stained dark brown or coffee coloured. The acrylic stem has a briar ring on it. It is a 9MM stem. He had done a repair and glued the pieces together. He did a good job of putting the parts together in a snug way. The only issue to my eyes was the longevity of the glue repair and the fact that the fit of the stem was loose. The following are photos that Derek sent to me to show the repaired shank on the pipe. The first photo shows overall look of the bowl. It is a great looking pipe. The photos after that show the repair shank and also the fit to the shank end. I did some work on the Vauen Mokka line before I started working on the pipe itself. I turned to the Vauen site (https://www.vauen.com/pipes/detail/collection/mokka/current-range.html). On the site there was a section on the Mokka line. I have included that information below.

The deep brown sandblasted surface creates a harmonious contrast to the natural briar wood that appears at the top of the bowl and at the end of the stem. The relief-like protruding grain ensures optimum heat dissipation.

Mouthpiece: acrylic black. Bitetype: Fishtail mouthpiece

Google sent me to the Pfeifen Shop and the listings on the Vauen Mokka 5277. I found a great photo of the pipe I am working on. Here is the link (https://www.pfeifen-shop-online.de/Vauen-Mokka-Pipe-5277).The site described the Mokka line as follows:

Coffee has been a part of the human culture for centuries. It hasn’t always been the quick drink, we see it as today, but solely a luxury drink. The combination with a pipe, creates a delightful experience like no other. The Vauen Mokka taste excellent even without coffee. Thanks to its sandblasting a greater surface are is created, so that the smoke can loose its heat more quickly, which is both more pleasurable and easier on the pipe itself. The bright accents on the rim and stem are pure, bright briar wood and contrast the deep brown colour of the pipe very well.

Half-Bent: Ball
Surface: Brown, sandblasted
Drilling: 9 mm
Stem: Acrylic
Material: Briar
Length: 140 mm
Height of bowl: ca. 63 mm
Drilling of the bowl: 20 mm
Weight: ca. 60g

With that information I knew what I was working on. I turned to work on the pipe itself. I went through my nickel bands to find one that was deep enough to bind together the repairs. It was deep enough but did not hide too much of the stamping on the shank. I took photos of the parts. I fit the band on the edge of the shank end. I heated it with a lighter and pressed it onto the shank end by pressing it against a hard board. I heated and pressed, heated and pressed until it was even with the shank end. I restained the repaired areas with a Walnut stain pen to blend them into the surface of the briar. The match was a good blend. The exterior of the bowl look better after sanding. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit on the bowl for 10 minutes and then buffed it off with a paper towel and soft cloth. The product is a great addition to the restoration work. It enlivens, enriches and protects the briar while giving it a deep glow. It is a product I use on every pipe I restore. I polished the nickel band and put the stem on the shank to capture a sense of what the repaired pipe looked like. I sent the photos to Derek to show him the look of the pipe. He liked what he saw.I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I sanded out the tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped it down with an Obsidian Oil Cloth after each sanding pad. It began to take on a rich shine.It was ready for the next step. I polished it with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the surface down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. It is really shining. I polished it further with Before & After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil to finish this step. I am excited to be on the homestretch and look forward to seeing the Vauen Mokka 5277 Saddle Stem Ball put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together and lightly polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish them. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe on the wheel with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The depths of the grain really pop with the wax and polish. The polished acrylic stem is a beautiful contrast to the combination of stains on the bowl and the band on the shank. This Vauen Mooka 5277 Ball was a bit of work to bring back to life. The pipe is light weight, comfortable in the hand and should feel great as it is warmed up when smoking. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.05 ounces/58 grams. I will be sending it back to Derek early next week and it should give him some great smokes through the years ahead.

Restoring a Mr. Brog Bulldog no. 34

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe that I am working on came from a friend in Naples, Florida, USA on 07/17/2024. It was very dirty and had a heavy varnish coat around the Pearwood bowl and shank. It was a natural finish under the varnish. It was dirty and had hand oils ground into the finish. The bowl had a thick cake in the bowl and a coat of lava flowing onto the inner edge and the rim top. The thick taper stem was very dirty, oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There was a white spot on the topside of the stem. The fit of the stem to the shank is perfect. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank and read Mr Brog [over] no. 34 Bulldog. To the left of the stamping was a large stamped cloverleaf. Jeff took photos of the pipe so I could have a sense of what it looked like before he started his work on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl. There was a lava build up on the top of the rim and the inner edge of the bowl. Jeff took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the tooth chatter and marks ahead of the button edge. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish. You can see the grime in the finish around the sides of the bowl and shank. Even under the dirt and debris of the years it looked very good. Jeff took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable as you can see from the photo. It read as noted above. Before I started working on the pipe I wanted to see what the original stem looked like and I wanted some background information on the Pear Wood Pipes. I decided to do a bit of digging on the history of the brand. I turned first to Pipephil’s site to get a quick overview (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-m8.html). From there I learned that the brand started in Poland in 1991 in the area known as the “St. Claude of Poland’. It was started by Zbigniew Bednarczyk along with Kazimierz Rog. Zbigniew kept the name after Kazimierz died in 2006.I turned to Pipedia for a bit more detail of the history (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Br%C3%B3g).

Pracownie Fajek Bróg was founded as Mr Bróg in Przemysl, “the Saint-Claude of Poland”, in 1991. Master craftsman Kazimierz Rog, the senior partner, had been a pipemaker since 1947, starting as an apprentice and later partner of Wiktor Winiarski and Zbigniew Mazuryk, followers of legendary Ludwik Walat. Zbigniew Bednarczyk was completely new to pipemaking, but as a non-professional sculptor, painter and poet he surely had pretty enough artistic disposition.

Mr Brog started out offering 10 models of briar pipes and 10 models made of wild pear, wild cherry and other unexpected materials, available both smooth and rusticated and polished with natural waxes only. The experience of the old master and the dynamic passion of his young friend made the brand soon well-known in Poland. Little by little they enlarged their program turning towards a more artistically minded way of pipemaking. This was the bedrock for success on international markets.

Kazimierz Róg, highly honored, passed away after a lengthy illness on June, 26th 2006. The firm is continued by Zbigniew Bednarczyk and his wife Renata.

I decided to check on the Mr. Brog Website (https://mrbrog.com/collections/pear-wood-pipes) to see what I could find out. The first information that I found was the following on the wood the pipe was made of. I quote

Pear wood is a great alternative to briar wood. Pear wood is very dense and a hard wood which is great for a pipe you can have for the years to come. Also, pear wood gives off a very pleasant smell and taste while smoking.

I then turned to the catalogue of pipes and shapes that were available in pear wood and looked specifically for the Bulldog No. 34. The shape and the shape number are shown in the photo on the site (https://brogshop.pl/en_US/p/Pipe-no.-34-Buldog-9-mm-Mr-Brog/290). I have included a picture from the website. As I scrolled through the photos on the site on this shape I found a photo of the various finishes on the pipe. The particular pipe I am working on is the first one at the top of the photo. It is labelled as Naturalny.Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He cleaned up the inside of the bowl with a PipNet reamer and a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. The rim top shows some damage on the top and the inner edge of the bowl. The bowl walls looked very good. 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 stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. Now the damage to the stem was very clear. Overall, the pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took close up photos of the bowl, rim top and stem to show how clean the pipe was. The bowl was clean and the darkening to the rim top and the inner edge is very visible in the photo below. The stem was clean and the tooth marks and chatter can be seen in the photos.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is very clear and readable and read as noted above. I also removed the stem from the shank and took photos of the pipe to show the look of the parts.I started my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening to the rim top and sanding the bowl and shank. I used 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads to remove the darkening on the rim top and the inner edge as well as clean up the bowl. It looked much better once finished. I polished the rim top with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads and wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. It took on a rich shine. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm and worked it into the surface of the pear wood with my finger tips. I let it sit on the bowl for 10 minutes and buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth to raise a shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth marks and chatter. I smoothed it out but since it is acrylic it still shows the scratch marks in the surface.I sanded the scratches on the stem sides with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil cloth. But the end it was beginning to shine.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads – the stem began to take on a shine. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished the stem with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine Polish. I buffed the stem with a soft cloth to raise the shine. I fit the 9MM tenon with a Dr. Perl Junior 9MM filter. It slipped in with no obstruction and fit in the shank perfectly.The Mr. Brog Pear Wood Bulldog no 34 turned out really well. I put the 9MM stem back on the shank and buffed it lightly with Blue Diamond to raise the shine. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the bowl with a soft cloth to deepen the shine. This chubby Pear Wood shape that Mr. Brog calls Bulldog no 34 is quite nice. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Diameter of the Chamber: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.87 ounces/53 grams. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Pipes from Various Makers section. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection let me know. Thanks for reading through my thoughts and reflections as I worked on this pear wood pipe.