Tag Archives: Malaga Pipe from Michigan

Restoring a “Malaga” Carved Bent Billiard for Alex

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a “Malaga” pipe that is one of Alex’s Malaga collection. It is a bent billiard with a carved rustication pattern around the bowl and shank that is unlike any of the other Malaga pipes that I have worked on. The rustication pattern is definitely interesting and from what I can see makes up for some mediocre grain. It came with a ¾ bent saddle vulcanite stem. The carver did a great job of uniquely shaping the pipe and rusticating it to give it a unique character. The bowl had a light cake that seems to have been reamed quite recently. The rim top had some significant burn damage on the inner edge and top toward the front of the bowl. The sides of the bowl and shank are very dirty with grime and oils from prolonged use. The stamping on the left side of the shank read “MALAGA”. The vulcanite stem was heavily oxidized and had tooth dents and chatter on the top and the underside of the stem. The button was worn on both sides. I took photos of the pipe before I started the cleanup work.   I took a close up photo of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the pipe before I started my cleanup work. The rim top had some major burn damage and darkening on the front top and inner edge of the bowl. The burn marks appeared to be quite deep on the inner edge and had burned the rustication off the front top of the bowl. The stem is deeply oxidized and dirty and there is tooth damage on the surface of the stem and damage to the button edges.    I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank on the smooth panel. It read as noted above.I took the stem off the shank and took a photo of the overall look of the pipe. It is quite attractive and certainly a unique rustication.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. 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/tag/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.

There was a light cake in the bowl so I reamed it with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. It did not take too much work to clean out the remnants. I sanded the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I was happy to see that the bowl looked very good. There was no heat damage.I lightly topped the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper on a topping board. Once it was smooth I wiped the rim top down with a cotton pad and alcohol. I used super glue and briar dust to build up the damage on the rim top and inner edge of the bowl. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to give the rim edge a slight bevel and smooth it out.I lightly topped the bowl again to smooth it out. I used a Dremel and burr to cut new grooved rustication into the bowl top to match the original rustication.  I stained the newly repaired and carved rim top with an Oak stain pen to match the rest of the surrounding briar. I was happy with the way the repair looked. I scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. Once it was finished the pipe smelled much better.   I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush 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 following photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I am very happy with the results.   I turned to the stem and scrubbed the oxidation with Soft Scrub All Purpose cleaner. I scrubbed the surface with the cleaner and cotton pads. I was able to remove a lot of the oxidation.  I sanded out the tooth marks on the underside of the stem and was able to remove most of them. There was one larger tooth mark that remained that I filled in with Loctite 380 Black Instant Adhesive. Once the repair cured I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out and to remove the remaining oxidation.I reshaped the button edges with 220 grit sandpaper and a needle file. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the remaining oxidation and started the polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.   I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad Obsidian Oil. I finished by polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish both fine and extra Fine and then wiped it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil.   This Malaga Rusticated/Carved Bent Billiard with a vulcanite saddle stem turned out to be a real beauty. It has a unique rustication around the bowl that is unlike other Malaga pipes that I have worked on. The carver really maximized that with the shape of the pipe. Everything about the pipe – the rustication on the shank and sides, the rusticated rim top and the cut of the briar work well to highlight the shape of the bowl. I polished stem and the bowl with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel and the finish just popped and came alive. 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. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The pipe took on life with the buffing. The rich oil cured colour works well with the polished vulcanite stem. The finished pipe has a rich look that is quite catching. Have a look at it with the photos below. The shape, finish and flow of the pipe and stem are very well done. The dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The pipe will back in the box of pipes that I am working on fro Alex. I am looking forward to what he will think of this one. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another estate pipe.

New Life for an Interesting Thick Shank “Malaga” Rhodesian

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one Jeff and I picked up on eBay. It is a thick round shank with a Bull cap on the top of the bowl. I would call the shape a Rhodesian though I am sure some will disagree. The pipe has a smooth finish. The pipe was dirty and caked with lava flowing onto the rim top and some darkening on the inner edge of the bowl. The bowl had a thick rough surfaced cake. There is a burn mark on the rim top and on the outside front of the cap. It does not look deep but it is very present. The exterior was dirty with grime and oils in the crevices of the finish. The stamping on the left side of the shank read “MALAGA” and the right side the stamping read Imported Briar. There is also a number 5 stamped on the heel of the bowl. The vulcanite saddle stem was oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started the cleanup work.Jeff took close up photos of the rim top and bowl from various angles to show the damage on the rim top as well as the cake and lava. You can also see the burn on the top of the rim and on the front of the bowl in the photos. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the interesting grain pattern that was under the grime. I call that cross grain! He also took photos of the stamping on the shank and the underside of the bowl. The stamping on the left side of the shank read “MALAGA”. He did not get a photo of the stamp on the right side but it read Imported Briar. The number 5 is stamped in the heel of the bowl.Jeff also took photos of the stem. The first one shows the top side and you can see the damage on the button edge itself. The second photo shows the underside of the stem and again the damage is very clearly shown.If this is the first of the Malaga restorations that you have read about then you should know the backstory of the brand. 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/tag/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 cleaned this filthy pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. This one was a real mess and I was looking forward to seeing what he had done with this one when I took it out of his box. It looked amazing and CLEAN. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the rim top. The finish looks good with great looking grain around the bowl and shank. The rim top and front of the bowl was severely damaged with burns. The condition of the inner and outer edges was rough. The stem looked a lot better but damage was evident on the button. Jeff soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the rubber. The pipe was ready for me to carry on the next part of the process. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up and what needed to be done. The rim top was clean but damaged. You can see the darkening around the edge and on the rim top. The outer edge looked good except for the burn on the front of the cap.  I also took close up photos of the stem to show the tooth marks on the button surface.  The last photo below shows the burn damage on the front of the bowl. The stamping appeared to be even clearer than it was before the cleanup work. This is just 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. I took some photos to show the stamping. I decided to start my restoration work on this one by addressing the burn damage on the rim top and bowl front. I topped the bowl to minimize the damage on the rim and bring the inner edge back to round. It did not take too much topping to achieve that. I finished the inner edge by giving it a slight bevel with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. The bowl top looks much better. I still need to address the burn on the outer bowl. I sanded the burn mark with 220 grit sandpaper and polished it with 400 grit wet dry. I was not able to remove the damage but I was able to minimize and lighten it a bit by sanding.I polished the smooth rim top bowl with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped down the bowl after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. 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 my attention to the stem. Since Jeff had cleaned the stem I did not need to do that. I wiped off the damaged areas with a cotton swab and isopropyl alcohol to remove debris and dust and filled in the tooth damage on the button and the stem surface with black super glue. I was heading to bed so it did not matter that the glue takes over night to cure.In the morning I reshaped the button edges and stem surface with a needle file to smooth out the repairs. I still need to do some more sanding but the stem is shaping up to be quite nice. I still need to remove the oxidation on the surface but it is getting there.I sanded out the repaired with 220 grit sand paper to blend them into the rest of the stem surface. I started to polish it with a folded piece of 400 wet dry sandpaper. Once it was finished it had begun to shine.I polished the stem with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish from a tin of it I have in the drawer here. It is a gritty red paste that I rub on with my finger tips and work into the surface of the stem and button and buff off with a cotton pad. It gives me a bit of a head start on the polishing work.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 continuing to experiment with Briarville Pipe Repairs new product, No Oxy Oil so I rubbed the stem down with the oil on the cloth that was provided with it. This is another interestingly shaped “Malaga” pipe – what I would call a Rhodesian. It has a short, stubby black vulcanite saddle stem. The cleaned up rim top look really good in comparison to where it started. There are still remnants of the story of the pipe’s journey but that is the way it should be. It has a great look and feel. The shape is very tactile and fits well in the hand. I polished stem and the bowl with Blue Diamond polish 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. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The rich oil cured briar took on life with the buffing. The rich brown colour of the briar works well with the polished vulcanite stem. The finished pipe has a rich look that is quite catching. Have a look at it with the photos below. The shape, finish and flow of the Rhodesian pipe and stem are very well done. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¼ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. It is a beautiful pipe and has a lot of promise for the Malaga collector. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe.

New Life for a Malaga Poker/Sitter for Alex

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Blog by Steve Laug

I have been working on a lot of different estate pipes and selling them for different families. I am continuing to work on the Malaga pipes that Alex put aside for restoration. He also brought other pipes to add to his box. I have a box of pipes from Alex that I am always working away at. He periodically drops more Malaga pipes into his box. There are quite a few of them to work on so I decided work on a few of them. The next one of these was another Malaga pipe. It is a beautiful Poker Sitter that is almost pear shaped. It has a very tight grain pattern around the bowl – cross grain on the sides and birdseye on the front and back of the bowl. It also has a tapered vulcanite stem. The pipe was dirty and caked when arrived. The rim top has a little lava and some darkening on the top rear edge of the bowl. The bowl had a thin cake in it that was hard and dense. The exterior of the bowl and shank are dirty with grime and oils from prolonged use. The stamping on the left side of the shank read “MALAGA” and on the right side it read Imported Briar. The vulcanite stem was in great condition and had tooth chatter on the top and the underside of the stem. I took photos of the pipe before I started the cleanup work. I took close up photos of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the pipe before I started my cleanup work. The rim top had some light lava and darkening on the front and back edge. The inner edge was slightly bevel and was darkened. Other than being so dirty it was in great condition. There was a light hard cake in the bowl interior. The stem was dirty and there was tooth chatter on the top and underside near the button. The stem was also lightly oxidized.I took a photo to capture the stamping on the shank. The first photo shows the stamping “MALAGA” on the left side of the shank is very readable. The second photo shows the stamping Imported Briar on the right side.If this is the first of the Malaga restorations that you have read about then you should know the backstory of the brand. 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/tag/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.

I decided to start with the issues with the rim top first. I wiped down the rim top of the bowl with a damp cotton pad to remove the tars and lava. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the burn damage and the darkening on the bevel.I followed Jeff and my regular regimen for cleaning estates. I reamed the light cake in the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. I sanded the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel to smooth out the inside walls of the bowl.I scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to wipe of the dust. I scrubbed the briar with Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. I scrubbed it off with running water to remove the soap and the grime on the bowl. I dried it off with a soft cloth. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush 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 my attention to the stem. I sanded out the tooth chatter with 220 grit sand paper and started to polish it with a folded piece of 400 wet dry sandpaper. Once it was finished it the tooth chatter and oxidation was gone and it began to 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 and buffed it off with a final coat of Obsidian Oil. This is a beautiful “Malaga” Imported Briar Poker Sitter with a tapered black vulcanite stem. It has a great look and feel. The shape fits well in the hand and sits on the desk when you are resting. The grain makes it a real beauty. I polished stem and the bowl with Blue Diamond polish 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. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The rich oil cured briar took on life with the buffing. The rich brown colour of the briar works well with the polished vulcanite stem. The finished pipe has a rich look that is quite catching. Have a look at it with the photos below. The shape, finish and flow of the pipe and stem are very well done. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter:  ¾ of an inch. I will be adding the pipe to the finished Malaga pipes that I have set aside for Alex. This will be a great addition to his collection of Malaga pipes. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another Malaga.

Redeeming a Malaga Short Cherrywood – a 2nd of 2 pipes going home

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Blog by Steve Laug

Yesterday afternoon I received and email from a reader of the rebornpipes blog who was on the hunt for a Malaga pipe or two for a colleague of hers. What made it interesting was that the colleague’s grandfather and family were the original owners of Malaga Pipes. Here is her message to me:

Hi There

I work with Lisa Holloway formerly Saraynian and her grandfather and consecutive family were the original owner of Malaga Pipes

I’d love to be able to purchase one for her for Christmas this year but since they went out of business in 1999 I have no idea where to get one or how much they are

Would you be able to help me find one and purchase it for her?

Please let me know thanks so much

Diane

I read her email at work and when I got home I went through the Malaga pipes from George Koch’s estate. I picked two of them that I thought might interest her and sent her the pictures of the pipes that I had available. The two I chose needed to be restored before I could send them to her but they showed some promise. The first of them was a long shank Canadian that had some mixed grain and vulcanite stem that I restored yesterday and wrote a blog about the process (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/10/26/redeeming-a-malaga-canadian-the-first-of-two-that-are-going-home/). The second one is a short Cherrywood that has a great mix of grain styles around the bowl and shank combined with a saddle stem that makes it an interesting pipe. It is another one of the many Malaga pipes that came to my brother and me in several shipments of pipes from George’s daughter Kathy. When Jeff got each box the pipes were well wrapped and packed. Jeff unwrapped them and took the following photo to give an idea of the volume of the pipes that we purchased. This Malaga came in mixed in a box of pipes much like the one below.In each of the previous blogs that I have written on the restoration of George’s pipes I have told his story. If you have followed the restorations you will have read the information and the background piece that Kathy did on her father. Here is a link to one of the previous blogs on his Malaga pipes where I included her tribute in full (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/01/26/back-to-kathys-dads-pipes-restoring-a-%c2%bc-bent-malaga-author/). You can also read the bio on her Dad, George Koch. It is an interesting read and one that shows just how far our pipe collecting passion can go when we find a brand of pipes that we enjoy. I am going to only include the portion on the Malagas at this point. If you wish to read the rest follow the link above.

Kathy writes…We lived in Livonia, and that’s where his love for Malaga pipes began. After a few years he returned to Allis Chalmers and we moved back to Springfield. I remember that when we went back to Michigan to visit friends, Dad had to go to the Malaga store and acquire a few new pipes. Many a year I wrote to Malaga and they picked out a pipe for me to purchase that I could give Dad for a Christmas or birthday present. He was always pleased. His favorites were the straight stemmed medium sized bowl pipes, but he liked them all. 

He had some other pipes, but the Malagas were his favorites. I remember him smoking them sitting in his easy chair after work, with feet up on the ledge by the fire burning in the fireplace.  Growing up it was my job to clean them and he liked the inner bowl and stem coated with Watkins vanilla, leaving a little of that liquid in the bowl to soak in when I put them back on the rack…I’m very happy they are being restored by you and your brother and hope they find homes who enjoy them as much as Dad did. Thank-you for your care and interest. — Kathy, the oldest daughter

The “Malaga” Short Cherrywood is next pipe on the table. The carver did a great job of shaping the pipe to follow the grain on the briar. The bowl, round shank and straight saddle stem look very good. The bowl had a thick cake that overflowed with lava onto the rim so that it was impossible to see if there was damage on the inner edges. The sides of the bowl and shank are very dirty with grime and oils from prolonged use. The stamping on the right side of the shank read “MALAGA”. On the left side it is stamped IMPORTED BRIAR. The stem had tooth dents and chatter on the top and the underside of the stem. There was some thick calcification and also some oxidation deep in the vulcanite of the stem surface. Jeff took these photos before he started the cleanup work on the pipe. Jeff took close up photos of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. The rim top had some lava overflow and darkening on the back of the bowl. There appeared to be some damage to the inner edge of the grimy pipe. The outer edge looked to be in decent condition with perhaps some burn marks on the front.He also took photos of the side and bottom of the bowl and shank to show the beautiful grain around the bowl. The photos show the general condition of the bowl and dirt and wear on the rich oil finish. It is very dirty but this is another beautiful pipe. Jeff took a photo to capture the stamping on the top side of the shank. The photos show the stamping “MALAGA” on the left side of the shank and IMPORTED BRIAR on the right side. The stamping is very readable.The next photos show the stem surface. There are tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button and wear on the button surface and edges. You can also see the calcification and the oxidation on the stem.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. 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/tag/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 reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He was able to remove the lava build up on the rim top and the flat surface of the rim top and the inner edge has some serious burn damage on the front and back side. The outer edge looked very good. I took photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. The stem also looked better. I took close up photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem. You can see the condition of the rim top and bowl in the first photo. Jeff was able to remove all of the tar and oils but you can now see the damage on the top and inside rim edge. The edge is out of round. There is a burn mark that extends across back and right front edge of the rim top at that point. The stem had tooth marks and chatter on both sides near and on the button surface on both sides.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank to show how good the condition is. It shows the “MALAGA” and the IMPORTED BRIAR stamp and they are very legible.I decided to address the rim top first. I topped the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper. I wanted to minimize the damage on the top, remove the darkening and clean up the damage on the inner edges of the bowl. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the damage on the right rear inner edge of the bowl. I gave the inner edge a slight bevel to repair the damage. I polished the edge with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. The rim top and edges really looked better (I forgot to take photos of the rim top at this point but did so with the micromesh).I polished the rim top and the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded the bowl with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I scrubbed the briar with Before & After Briar Cleaner and a tooth brush. I rubbed it into the surface of the briar with my finger tips and let it sit for about 10 minutes then rinsed it off with running water. I dried it off with a soft cloth. 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 following photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I am very happy with the results. I turned to the stem to address the issues on the surface of both sides at the button. I sanded both sides smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and 400 grit sandpaper to blend the tooth chatter into the surface of the stem. As I sanded and reshaped the button and stem surface the tooth chatter disappeared.I used some Denicare Mouthpiece Polish that I have in my kit to start polishing out some of the scratches and remaining oxidation on the stem. I rubbed it in with a cotton pad and my finger tip and buffed it off with a cotton pad.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad Obsidian Oil. I finished by polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish both fine and extra Fine and then wiped it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil. This is a “Malaga” Imported Briar small Cherrywood with a ¼ bent vulcanite saddle stem has a great look and feel. The shape of the bowl, the cut of the rim top and briar work well to highlight the grain around the bowl sides. I polished stem and the bowl with Blue Diamond polish 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. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain took on life with the buffing. The rich oil cured colour works well with the polished vulcanite stem. The finished pipe has a rich look that is quite catching. Have a look at it with the photos below. The shape, finish and flow of the pipe and stem are very well done. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 7/8 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Now that the second Malaga is finished it is ready to mail off to Diane with the Canadian. I can’t wait to hear what her colleague thinks when she opens her Christmas present! I am glad that she is carrying on both the trust for George Koch and her family. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another one of Kathy’s Dad’s Pipes.

Restoring a Malaga Hand Made Freehand Sitter

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe in the queue is from the batch of pipes I am cleaning up for Alex – this one is a Hand Made Malaga Freehand Sitter with plateau on the rim top and shank end. The entire pipe had been sandblasted but some beautiful straight grain around the bowl and birdseye grain on bottom showed through the blast.The pipe has a dark under coat of stain in the blast and a top coat of brown that really makes the grain shine through the blast. The carver did a great job utilizing the block of briar to maximize the grain. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank. It reads “MALAGA” (over) Hand Made. The saddle stem is fancy, turned vulcanite and has no marking or stamping. This is another nice looking piece much like many of the pipes Alex is picking up. There was a thick cake in the bowl and some lava overflowing onto the plateau rim top. The exterior of the briar was dusty with grime in the crevices of the blast. The stem is dirty and there were tooth marks on both sides of the stem at the button edge and some wear on the button edge itself. The photos below tell the story and give a glimpse of the pipe before clean up. I took a photo of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the pipe before I started my cleanup work. There was a lava on the rim and the cake in the bowl. The inner and outer edges of the bowl appeared to be in excellent condition. The plateau top had a lot of grime in the crevices. The stem was in decent condition. There was some light oxidation and there was wear on the button surfaces on both sides of the stem. There were tooth marks and chatter on the underside of the stem but otherwise it was not too bad.I also took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the sandblast and the stamping on the smooth panel on the end. The stamping is readable in the photo below – MALAGA over Hand Made.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/tag/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 started the process of the restoration by cleaning out the grooves in the plateau with a brass bristle tire brush. Once I finished I scrubbed the bowl with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed the bowl under running water to wash off the soap and the grime that the tooth brush had loosened. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the remnants of cake. I sanded the inside of the walls with a dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar and the plateau with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush 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. I buffed the rim top with a shoe brush to make sure that the nooks and crannies had the conditioner deep in them. The following photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. The bowl and the rim top look very good with rich contrasting stains. I scraped the mortise with a dental spatula to remove the hardened tars and oils on the walls. I then scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. With the bowl finished I set it aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the deep tooth marks and dents on the both the top and underside of the stem and on the edges of the button on both sides with clear super glue. When the repairs had cured I used a needle file to flatten the repaired spots in preparation for sanding. I sanded the stem surface with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repairs the tooth marks on the surface of the button. I am happy with the stem surface once that was done. I started the polishing of the surface with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with a damp cloth after each pad. I further polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I wiped it down with a coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. With both parts of the pipe finished, I polished the bowl and the stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The sandblast finish and the grain came alive with the buffing. The rich contrasting colour finish on the briar works well with the polished black vulcanite stem. The finished pipe is a beauty and feels great in the hand. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 1/2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. This one will be going back to Alex to add to his rack of Malaga pipes that are in his collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this uniquely carved Malaga Hand Made Freehand Sitter.

Getting Rid of a Foul Smell in a third pipe – a Malaga Pot

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Blog by Steve Laug

I have a box of some 25 pipes that I am working through for a friend here in Vancouver. The next group of four pipes that I am working on came to me in a sour, stinky condition. Alex had smoked them and found that as he smoked them each one became fouler. From my experience this happens when a pipe has not been thoroughly cleaned in the process of restoration. Sometimes even if it has been cleaned, the first few smokes draw out a foul taste and in this case an odor that made me put the four pipes in a zip lock bad to keep the odor contained. They really stunk! On Sunday evening I decided to give the foursome a cotton ball and alcohol treatment to draw out the oils and tars in the briar. I pushed cotton balls into the bowl and a folded pipe cleaner in the shank and used an ear syringe to fill the bowl with isopropyl alcohol. I set the pipes aside to let the alcohol do its work overnight. I know many of you use kosher salt and alcohol and that certainly is your choice. For me however the cotton balls work just as effectively in providing a medium for the foul juices drawn out of a pipe to be deposited. They are also easier to clean up and they do not leave residual salts in the briar. In the morning I took a photo of the finished work. You can see the effectiveness of the treatment.I took the cotton out of the bowls of the pipes and wiped the bowl down with pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to dry them out. The pipe I decided to work on is the beautifully grained straight pot, the third pipe from the right in the photo above. It is stamped on the left side of the shank “MALAGA” and on the right side of the shank is stamped Imported Briar. Alex has grown to love Malaga pipes and continues to pick them up on eBay and other places on his journey. It was another pipe that the seller said was clean but after several smokes Alex deemed it unsmokable. It was now up to me to figure out what was going on. I examined the pipe when I took out the cotton balls and alcohol and I learned a few things about it that would need to be addressed. The rim top and inner and outer edges of the rim were in rough condition. It looked like the pipe had been used for a hammer. The finish was spotty with nicks and marks. The bowl had some cake inside and it too would need to be reamed out. The stem was the best of the lot. It was clean and was free of tooth marks or chatter. I wondered what the airway was like but that is an easy clean up. I took some photos of the pipe at this point. I took a close up photo of the bowl and rim to capture the damage to the rim top and light cake in the bowl. The rim top was in bad condition with nicks and cuts. The inner and outer edges were rough. The bowl was out of round. It needed some more work to clean it up but at least the cotton ball alcohol treatment had rid the pipe of the rank smell. The stem was in the best condition of the four pipes. It did not have tooth chatter or marks and was not oxidized.I took a photo to capture the stamping on the right and left side of the shank. The first photo shows “MALAGA” on the left side of the shank. The second photo shows the stamping on the right side it reads Imported Briar. The stamping on this pipe is readable.Now that the stink was gone I did not even think of cleaning the shank and airway I just immediately went to the most irritating part of this pipe – the beat up rim top and edges. I topped it on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage to the rimtop and to try to minimize the damage to the inner and outer edges. The rim top looked significantly better as can be seen in the second photo below. I cleaned up the outer edge with some sandpaper and wiped it down. I filled in the deep nicks in the edge with briar dust and super glue.I sanded the edge repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the briar. I would polish out the scratches later but for now the edge was at least smooth. Once the outer edge was cleaned up I worked on the inner edge. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and smoothed out the edge. I gave the edge a slight bevel to take care of the rim damage and darkening that was present.I polished the rim top and the rest of the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I used the wet sanding on the first three pads to give me the traction to remove the scratches in the briar and the dry sanding to polish the briar. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. At this point in the process the finish looked very uneven to me – even spotty. I decided to wipe down the bowl and shank with isopropyl alcohol to remove the uneven finish. I was able to even out the look of the finish to a point where I was happy with the look.  I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the bowl and shank 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 following photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. The bowl and the rim top look really good and the damage is gone. I am very happy with the results. It was at this point that I realized that I had not reamed the bowl or done any cleaning of the internals after the cotton ball and alcohol treatment. I had been so intent on cleaning up the damaged rim that I totally skipped my normal pattern of work. So I went back to ream the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the inside of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to remove all remnants of the cake. When I was finished the bowl walls were smooth and clean.I cleaned out the airway in the shank and stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. I cleaned out the mortise in the shank with cotton swabs and alcohol until the mortise walls were clean and looked bare. I stopped and checked out the smell of the pipe and it was clean and fresh smelling.The stem on this Malaga was flawless. There were no tooth marks and no chatter. The stem absolutely glow it was so clean so there was nothing to be done with it. I wiped it down with some Obsidian Oil to protect and deepen the shine but otherwise it was perfect.

I put the stem back on the bowl and polished the pipe with Blue Diamond polish 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. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain came alive with the buffing. The rich brown finish on the briar works well with the polished black vulcanite stem. The finished pipe is a beauty and feels great in the hand. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 3/4 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 9/16 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. This one will be going back to Alex with the other two previously foul pipes that I worked on. Thanks for walking through the restoration on this now great looking “Malaga”. It is really a beauty. I think Alex should get a better smoke from it now.