Tag Archives: vulcanite

Breathing Life into an S&R Sandblast Oom Paul

by Steve Laug

Years ago, I met Steve and Roswitha of S&R pipes at the Chicago Pipe Show. I cannot even remember the year but I remember having a good conversation with them. I was not able to pick up one of their pipes at that time but I was amazed at the beauty and style of pipes that the two of them were creating in their shop, Pipes & Pleasures in Columbus, Ohio. This pipe came to us from a seller in Memphis, Tennessee, USA on 08/27/2024. Jeff took some photos of the pipe when he received it to show the general condition. I have included the photos of the S&R pipe. The sandblast finish was dirty and dusty looking. There was a moderate cake in the bowl and surprisingly no lava overflow on the rim top. The sandblast follows the grain of the bowl and shank. The stamping is very clear and shows the interlocked SR with a pipe on the left side of the shank. The sandblast is quite deep and really shows the grain and is nicely done. The saddle stem is vulcanite and oxidized. There are tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button and some scratching on the stem surface. The photos below tell the story and give a glimpse of the Oom Paul shape.Here is a close up of the bowl and rim top. You can see the light lava coat. The inner edge of the rim looks good. There is a moderate cake in the bowl that is hard and rough. The photos of the stem show the scratching, oxidation and tooth marks in the stem at the button. Jeff took photos of the sides of the bowl to show the interesting grain in the sandblast. The swirls and depths of the sandblast are intricate and quite beautiful. Jeff took a photo of the S&R logo on the left side of the shank. It is a unique interlocked S&R stamp with the pipe. It is clear and legible.I decided to take some time to review my knowledge of the brand. I turned to Pipedia and read the article that was included there (https://pipedia.org/wiki/S%26R_Pipes). I quote in full below:

Stephen and Roswitha Anderson of S&R Pipes, also known as S&R Woodcrafters, have become pipe makers renowned throughout the world as talented carvers of high-grade briar pipes. They have been featured in several trade publications and magazines such as Pipes and Tobaccos and PipeSmoker, and have several pieces on display in museums in Europe and the United States.

They are the first American pipe carvers honored with induction into the Conferee of Pipe Makers of St. Claude, France; the very place where the carving of briar pipes became a world-wide industry. Sadly, Steve passed away in March of 2009. Roswitha is still carving S&R pipes and carrying on with the shop with help from her “guys” David, Marty, and Tony.

Steve and Roswitha began carving pipes in the 1960’s. They travelled to pipe shows and arts and crafts shows throughout the country and Europe selling their pipes and built up quite an extensive loyal customer base. Eventually, it became time to offer their pipes to the retail fraternity of pipe smokers.

Pipes & Pleasures had its grand opening in a distinct red brick house on Main Street in Columbus, Ohio in 1977. The front section of the house was converted into a traditional tobacco shop selling pipe tobacco, cigars, and pipes manufactured by well known companies such as Dunhill, Charatan, and Savinelli as well as the high-grade S&R pipes that Steve and Roswitha carved. A workshop was set up in the back section of the house.

When the cigar boom hit in the ’90’s, the shop was expanded by building a large computer controlled walk-in humidor. It’s no secret throughout the country that Pipes & Pleasures has the best maintained cigars in the Columbus area as well as the best selection of premium cigars available in the area including the much sought-after Davidoff line.

Soon after the boom began, Steve and Roswitha moved their pipe making workshop to their farm and converted that space into a large smoking lounge for their many customers. The lounge features comfortable easy chairs, a television set, a stereo, a library of books and magazines about every aspect of tobacciana, a chess table, and a couple of card tables. The lounge is populated daily with long-time loyal customers and newcomers to the enjoyment and relaxation of cigar and pipe smoking. It’s also the room where several cigar tastings and samplings are held every year by representatives from cigar companies such as Davidoff and La Flor Dominicana.

I captured a photo of the shop from the Pipedia article to include below. It is a great looking shop.

The Pipes & Pleasures shop, home of S&R Woodcrafters

I also turned to the Pipes & Pleasures website and copied the “About Us” section. Here is the link to the site (https://www.pipesandpleasures.biz/maintenance). I quote in part.

Pipes & Pleasures proprietors Stephen and Roswitha Anderson have become pipe makers renowned throughout the world as talented carvers of high-grade briar pipes. They have been featured in several trade publications and magazines such as Pipes and Tobaccos and PipeSmoker, and have several pieces on display in museums in Europe and the United States. They are the first American pipe carvers honored with induction into the Conferee of Pipe Makers of St. Claude, France; the very place where the carving of briar pipes became a world-wide industry.

…Sadly, Steve passed away in March of 2009. Roswitha is still carving S&R pipes and carrying on with the shop with help from her “guys” David, Marty, and Tony, who welcome you to this website.

New Life for a Republic Peterson’s De Luxe 440 Billiard

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by Steve Laug

In the last box of pipes Jeff sent me there was an interesting, nicely grained Peterson’s Billiard to restore. We purchased it from a seller on eBay on 08/22/2024 who was in Harrison Township, Michigan, USA. It is a Peterson’s De Luxe 440 Straight Billiard. It is stamped on the left side of the shank Peterson’s [over] De Luxe and on the right side it reads Made in the Republic of Ireland (three lines) followed by the shape number 440. It was a dirty pipe when we received it. There was lava on the rim top and heavily coated on the bevelled inner edge of the rim. The rim top was dirty and showed some wear and tear on the surface coming up for the bowl. There was a thick cake in the bowl that had remnants of tobacco stuck in it. The finish was dirty and there were spots of grime and oils. Under the finish was a great looking pipe with nice grain. The stem was calcified, oxidized and there were light tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work.He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their general condition. You can see the tars on the inner edge and some scuffing on the rim top. The cake in the bowl is quite thick and there is tobacco debris on the walls of the bowl. The finish on the bowl is dull but the grain is still very stunning. This pipe has a classic Peterson’s P-lip stem on a saddle stem. It has calcification and oxidation on the surface of the vulcanite that is quite deep. There seems to be some tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give an idea of the grain on this particular piece of briar. It is amazing and I cannot wait to see what it looks like once it is polished and waxed. He took photos of the stamping on both sides of the shank to capture it for me. The first photo shows the left side of the shank and the stamping as noted above as well as the P logo on the stem. The second and third photos show the right side of the shank with the Made in the Republic of Ireland three line stamp and shape number 440. I did a bit of work on Google to gather background on the De Luxe line of pipes when I worked on the 4S previously. I decided to quote that here as well.

The first information I found about the Deluxe line was on the Peterson’s website (https://www.peterson.ie/pipes/system/deluxe-system-smooth/). I quote from the description of the line below. I have highlighted several key portions in bold black for emphasis.

While the De Luxe stamp first appeared on our System pipes in 1940, the design itself dates to our 1896 and 1906 catalogues and, with the exception of the Supreme, has always marked our highest tier of System pipe. Like the System Standard and System Spigot lines, the Deluxe System pipe incorporates Charles Peterson’s patented System design, including a deep reservoir to collect excess moisture from the smoke; a graduated-bore mouthpiece that funnels the smoke and allows moisture to collect within the reservoir; a sturdy sterling silver military mount, which allows the pipe to be broken down and cleaned without damage or warping; and our patented P-Lip bit, which draws the smoke upward, thus reducing tongue bite. The De Luxe differs from those aforementioned lines, comprised of bowls with only the finest grain patterns and featuring a sterling silver mount and a push-gap stem, which was never designed to be flush-fitting, the space between the mount and stem base gradually decreasing with prolonged use. The Deluxe also elevates the System pipe by fixing each stem with a traditional chimney, an aluminum fitment that extends the tenon past the chamber’s airway for optimal System performance. Created for Peterson enthusiasts interested in acquiring the finest System pipe on the market, the Deluxe System will serve as the crown of any collection. Seen here in the Smooth finish.

From that information I knew how the De Luxe fit in the hierarchy of Peterson’s pipes. It was always the highest tier of the System pipes. The attachment of a chimney at the end of the tenon was to maximize System performance (the chimney was missing in this particular pipe).

From there I also turned to Pipedia to see what that would add to the information I had on the brand and line. I quote from an article by Jim Lilley and have included portions of it below. (https://pipedia.org/wiki/A_Closer_Look_at_The_Peterson_Deluxe_System_Pipe). Once again, I have highlighted pertinent sections in bold below.

The version of the system pipe for our closer inspection is one of Peterson’s more recognisable series, the handsome and very distinctive De Luxe system pipes, which include the Darwin and Mark Twain. These pipes are at the top of the ‘system’ series in terms of quality and finish.

Each Peterson Deluxe is made from carefully selected, age mellowed root briar. In matte finish with hallmarked sterling silver mounts and a unique space fitting mouthpiece to allow for years of wear. They are available in a wide range of shapes numbered, as follows 1s,2s,3s,4s,5s,8s,9s,11s,12.5s,20s, XL5s, 20FB and 11FB.

The pipes are well carved, construction, engineering and workmanship, is outstanding. The stems are well drilled and aligned. Silver work is excellent, finish very good, and the often maligned briar is of outstanding quality.

The design is a very typically Peterson classic shape. Apart from the Darwin, the balance can be stem heavy, the bit is thick and chunky, especially in the larger versions. I also enjoy the sense of presence they give to the pipe, particularly if smoking in company with friends or strangers. They have a sophistication about them.

The smoking qualities are excellent, dry and cool. The draw is good, and the flavour is particularly great in new pipes. The Mark Twain’s are outstanding in this department….

With that information I turned my attention to working on the pipe.

Jeff had cleaned it thoroughly. He had reamed it with a PipNet reamer and cleaned that up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He had scrubbed the exterior of the briar with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. He rinsed it with running water to remove the grime and oils. He cleaned out the interior of the shank, sump and airway in the shank and stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub to remove the oxidation and calcification on the surface. He soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation. He removed it from the Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my part of the work. I took some photos of the rim top and stem. The rim top and bowl looked very good. The cake and lava overflow were gone and the inward bevelled rim was very clean. There was also some darkening on the bevelled inner rim edge and light damage on the edge of the top and the bevel. Jeff had been able to get rid of all of the lava and tars. The rim top looked good with light marks and scratches on the surface. The closeup photos of the stem shows that it is a much cleaner and better looking stem. The tooth marks and chatter were still present ahead of the button.I took some photos of the stamping on the shank sides to show the condition after the cleanup. Often the stamping takes a hit with the cleaning and is lessened in its clarity. Jeff does a great job in leaving the stamping looking very good. The stamp on the stem is also in good condition and will need to be recoloured. I also took the stem off the shank and took a photo of the parts of the pipe to show the proportion. The grain around the bowl and shank on this pipe is very beautiful. I started my restoration work on this pipe by addressing the darkening around the inner edge of the bowl. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the bevelled inner edge and the rim top with the same sandpaper. The finished rim top looked very good.I used 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads to remove the darkening on the rim edges and top as well to smooth out some of the scratches in the briar. Once finished it was ready to be polished. 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 my attention to the stem. On other Deluxe pipes I have used gold to touch up the stamp rather than white acrylic. I touched up the “P” stamp on the left side of the stem with some Rub’n Buff Antique Gold. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick. I buffed it off with a soft cloth and some Obsidian Oil. It looked very good.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to minimize the scratches and tooth chatter. I wiped the stem down after each pad with Obsidian Oil on a cloth. By the final pad it looked good.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 Peterson’s De Luxe 440 Billiard 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 Republic Era Peterson’s De Luxe 440 Straight Billiard. Once again, the grain and the way the shape follows the grain is amazing. Give the finish 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 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is .99 ounces/28 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 Irish Pipemakers Section. Let me know if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for your time.

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.

Waking up and finding a wish list pipe on Facebook Marketplace

2 Replies

by Steve Laug

I have just a few pipes on my wish list of pipes I am wanting to add to my personal collection and one of them was the pipe I received a notification about on Facebook when I woke up. It was a Becker-Musico dark sandblast pipe with the original pipe sock. The shape was a classic Billiard (exactly what I was looking for) and the shank had a Sterling Silver Ferrule and a Sterling stem cone on the military bit stem. Both were tarnished and the pipe was dirty but in good condition. The bowl had a moderate cake and some tobacco debris still in it. The rim top and rest of the sandblast finish were dusty but in good condition. The stem was lightly oxidized on the button end and there were light tooth marks and chatter. I sent the seller a message and asked about the pipe. I almost expected that it would be gone as I have often gotten my hopes up and missed the pipe in question. This time I was fortunate and she immediately answered. It did not take too long for us to agree on a price and shipping. I transferred the payment and she sent me the tracking information. I asked her about the provenance of the pipe and it turns out to have come from her late uncle’s collection. I have included the photos that she included on the Facebook Marketplace listing. Over my years of smoking a pipe I have looked for Becker-Musico pipes as there was always something about them that caught my attention. This is the second one that I found and worked on in my 30+ years of working on pipes. So, in many ways this another interesting one for me to work on and certainly a pipe I have been seeking. I have wanted to work on a Billiard and I have wanted to fire one up to smoke! I have enjoyed my other Becker-Musico, a Canadian but this was the shape I wanted. But before I started my work, I decided to research the brand to confirm what I thought I remembered. I turned first to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b3.html). There was an entry there that I have captured and included below. I have also included the information below the screen capture that was in the sidebar of the entry. To me this is always a great starting point for developing a sense of background on a particular pipe that I am working on.This brand comes from the partnership of Fritz & Paolo Becker and Giorgio Musicò ending up in the Becker & Musicò shop in 1989. When Fritz Becker passed, his son Paolo Becker didn’t continue the collaboration. Massimo Musicò (son of Giorgio) established a new brand: Foundation

I liked the idea that it was a collaborative work between the two Becker (father and son) and Giorgio Musico of Rome. I wanted more information to feed my curiousity so I turned to Pipedia to see what I could find (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Becker_%26_Music%C3%B2). The information is more definitive and helpful. I quote from the article below:

Paolo Becker, son of famed pipemaker Fritz Becker and Massimo Musicò, son of Giorgio Musicò, former manager of the famous Carmignani pipe shop in Rome, joined together in a pipe shop in 1990, and in 1995 began to make pipes together. The pipes were turned by Paolo on the lathe and finished by hand, and Massimo fit the mouthpieces and crafted spigots and silver bands to go with the pipes. Most were sandblasted, and approximately 2,000 pipes a year were made. The blasted pipes were stamped with “Five Years” denoting pipes made in 1995, and an additional number was added for each year, so that 5 years – 3 for example would refer to 1998. Smooth pipes were stamped with the years since 1990, so that a “6 years” pipe would have been made in 1996. The pipes were imported to the United States by R.D. Field, until 2002 when Becker returned to full time pipemaking under his own name. From 2002 on Becker & Musicò pipes were only sold in their shop, if at all.

Sadly, Paolo Becker died in 2014. Massimo Musicò continued to make pipes after the partnership ended under the Foundation name.

I also found a thread on Pipesmagazine forums discussing the brand. A fellow asked about the history of the brand as he purchased two of the pipes. The answer given by “disinformatique” give us an interesting piece of information that came originally from SmokingPipes.com (https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/two-new-pipes-i-acquired.56159/). I quote it below.

Here is some history on Musico pipes. Courtesy SmokingPipes.com
“If you know Becker pipes, well, chances seem slim you wouldn’t also know the name Musico. It was Giorgio Musico who, as an enthusiastic supporter of their work and as the manager of the Carmignani shop in Rome, bought up every pipe Fritz and Paolo Becker could bring him, from the time he first discovered the Beckers in 1979. Later would come both the Becker & Musico pipe shop (a hidden gem still found today on Via di San Vincenzo in Rome) and the Becker & Musico pipe. The latter was a result of collaboration between the son of Giorgio, Massimo Musico, and Paolo Becker, encouraged by Giorgio Musico’s love of classic shapes. These were made in the back workshop of the Becker & Musico shop itself, which Massimo and Paolo also ran together.

In 2002, however, Paolo turned his focus to the creation and development of Becker pipes full-time, while Massimo continued to both run the Becker & Musico shop and create Becker & Musico briars. Without Paolo, production was much more limited; a solution came, however, with Foundation, the name stamped on the Musico pipes you’ll find here. This again was created as a collaboration, but a broader one: Massimo, Giorgio, and a team of hand-picked Italian artisans (Gian Maria Gamboni was one you will surely recognize). That was the beginning of Foundation by Musico.”
Cheers, Chris :puffpipe:

Combining the information above I knew that the classic shaped Canadian by Becker-Musico was a collaboration of Paolo Becker and Massimo Musico. It was made in their shop in Rome. The stamp is 5 Years – 3 and tells us that the sandblast pipes which started in 1995 (5 Years) and added 3 years to that for a date of 1998.

Now it was my turn to work on the pipe. It arrived in Vancouver this morning. I took photos of the pipe before I started working on it. It is a beauty. You can see the condition is as I described it above – dirty but lovely at the same time. Have a look at the beauty that caught my eye with this one. I took photos of the rim top and the stem to show the condition. You can see the cake in the bowl and the dusting of lava on the rim top. The photos also capture the oxidation of the silver on the ferrule and the stem end. The photos of the stem show the light chatter on the top and the underside of the stem. The Becker & Musico logo is clearly visible on the top of the stem.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank to capture it. It read as follows: Becker & Musico [over] 5 Years – 4 [over] Made in Italy (in two lines). The 5 Years – 4 identifies the date of the pipe. The blasted pipes were stamped with “Five Years” denoting pipes made in 1995, and an additional number was added for each year, so that 5 years – 4 for example would refer to 1999. The pipe is a pipe made in 1999. The silver ferrule was stamped with an octagon with the letters BMP on the inside. Underneath it is stamped 925. The stem has a silver cap that is also stamped with the octagon and BMP over 925. I removed the stem and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of the look of the pipe. The ferrule was loose on the shank end as the glue had long since dried out. I cleaned up the inside of the Sterling Silver ferrule with a cloth and knife and gave it a coating of all-purpose white glue. I pressed the ferrule back on the shank and line up the stamping to match the stamping on the stem end. I set it aside and let the glue cure. I polished the silver band and stem end silver with Hagerty Silver Polish and a jeweller’s cloth to clean up and prevent further oxidation in the future. The contrast between the silver and the dark sandblast is very nice.I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer. I used the second and third cutting heads and took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and removed all the remnants of the cake. I sanded the walls of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped in 220 grit sandpaper. The walls look very good at his point in the process. I used a brass bristle wire brush on the sandblasted rim top to clean off the residual debris. I cleaned out the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, hard bristle and soft bristle pipe cleaners. It was a very pipe which just meant that it had really been enjoyed by the previous pipe man.I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I scrubbed the lava on the rim top and overflow on the outside of the bowl with the soap. I rinsed the briar with warm water to remove the grime and debris of the scrubbing. It looked significantly better after the scrubbing. Once I cleaned the bowl with the soap it looked much better. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the sandblast surface with my fingertips and a shoebrush. 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 set the bowl aside and sanded out the light tooth damage on the vulcanite stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with Obsidian Oil. I was able to remove the damage and the stem looked better. 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 gave the stem a final polish with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish both Fine and Extra Fine. I rubbed the stem with them and then gave them a final coat of Obsidian Oil. I set it aside to dry. This Becker-Musico 5 years – 4 Sandblast Military Bit Billiard has a beautiful, dark, reddish brown finish on the sandblast bowl and rim. The sandblast is well done and really highlights some beautiful grain. The polished Sterling Silver Ferrule and the Cone Fitting on the tenon end of the polished vulcanite stem add to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Becker-Musico Sandblast Military Bit Billiard is quite stunning and feels great in my hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.62 ounces/46 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I am going to keep this one around for awhile to try it out as I have wanted one for a long time. Thanks for your time.

Breathing new life into another Beautiful “Malaga” M-2 Acorn

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by Steve Laug

The “Malaga” Bent Acorn is next pipe on the table. We purchased it off eBay on 09/16/24 from a seller in Center Line, Michigan, USA. The carver did a great job of shaping the pipe to follow the grain on the briar. The acorn shaped bowl, round shank and quarter Bent tapered stem look very good. The bowl had a moderate cake that overflowed with a spotty lava coat on the rim and edges look good. The sides of the bowl and shank are very dirty with grime and oils from prolonged use. The grain around the bowl and shank appeared to be very nice mixed grain under the grime on the briar. The stamping on the left side of the shank read “MALAGA”. On the top of the shank just ahead of the stem junction it is stamped M-2. The stem had light tooth marks and chatter on the top and the underside of the stem ahead of the button. There was some light oxidation on 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 thick lava overflow. The outer edge looked to be in decent condition. The stem is oxidized, calcified and has tooth marks and chatter on both sides. He also took a photo 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. You can also see the flaws in the briar which explains the M-2, or second designation. It is very dirty but this is another beautiful pipe. Jeff took a photo to capture the stamping on the left and top side of the shank. The photo shows the stamping “MALAGA” on the left side and M-2 on the top side of the shank. The stamping is very readable under the heavy grime.Before I started working on the pipe itself I went back and reread what I had found when I had worked on many of the Malaga pipes that had come across my work table. I am including a few pieces of information that I have gathered in the process.

For those of you reading this blog who are unfamiliar with the brand, I am including the link to a previous blog that I wrote. It 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/.

I have also included a link 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.

George Khoubesser (picture to the left) started Malaga Briar Pipe Company and located it in Royal Oak, Michigan in the USA in 1939. It closed its doors for the last time in 1999 after 60 years in business. I have an old Malaga Catalogue that I scanned and put on the blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2013/02/09/george-khoubesser-and-malaga-pipes/). The catalogue describes the manufacture of the pipes as follows:

Painstaking caution is exercised in selecting flawless, perfect briar wood for the purpose of making and Curing of the “Malaga.” You can be certain of this fact, because none other than the choicest and finest select briarwood will withstand the “Malaga” Curing process. Other than the choicest quality and grain, will split wide open in the Curing vats… The Curing method renders all “Malaga” pipes, light in weight… Most all “Malaga” Senior pipes are left in their natural state; except for a skillful waxing which brings out the rich beauty of the virgin grain. No artificial polishing stain, shellac or varnishes are added. Malaga closed in 1999 after 60 years in business.

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, shank brushes 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 had some burn damage on the front and back side. The outer edge was rough and nicked. 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 and you can that the top and the edges of the bowl look very good. The stem had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button on both sides.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank to show the condition. The “MALAGA” stamp is far more clear and and readable than my blurry photos show. The M-2 stamp on the top of the shank is also more clear than the photos. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of how the pipe looked. I decided to address the many poxy looking flaws in the briar first. There were no fills at all just sandpits that were all different sizes all around the bowl. The worst were on the right side followed by the front of the bowl. The right side and rim top were in excellent condition. I filled them all in with briar dust and clear CA glue. Once they cured I flattened them with a small flat file and then sanded them smooth with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the briar. I wiped the bowl down to remove the sanding dust with isopropyl alcohol and cotton pads. Once the repairs looked significantly better than the flaws in the briar that existed before. I sanded the bowl and rim with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to begin the process of removing the scratches and blending the restored rim top into the rest of the bowl. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the dust and debris. The photos tell the story. I polished the rim top and the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I dry 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 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 set the bowl aside and “painted” the stem surface with the flame and was able to lift the tooth marks significantly. I filled in the ones that remained with black extra strength CA glue. I set it aside to cure. Once it cured I flattened the repair with a small file and then sanded it smooth with 220 grit sandpaper. It began to look much better. I turned to the stem to address the issues on the surface of both sides at the button. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad. I think I finally beat the oxidation.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 beautiful Malaga M-2 Bent Acorn with a vulcanite tapered stem. It has a great look and feel. The shape of the bowl, the rim top and the cut of the 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 Malaga M-2 Acorn has a rich look that is quite catching. The repaired flaws look better and are smooth. 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 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.23 ounces/35 grams. It is a beautiful pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly in the American Pipemakers Section if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking with me through the restoration.

Breathing new life into another Beautiful “Malaga” Quarter Bent Egg

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by Steve Laug

The “Malaga” Bent Egg is next pipe on the table. We purchased it off eBay on 08/22/24 from a seller in Harrison Township, Michigan, USA. The carver did a great job of shaping the pipe to follow the grain on the briar. The egg-shaped bowl, round shank and quarter Bent tapered stem look very good. The bowl had a thick cake that overflowed with thick 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 grain around the bowl and shank appeared to be very nice mixed grain under the grime on the briar. The stamping on the left side of the shank read “MALAGA”. There was no other stamping on it. The stem had light tooth marks and chatter on the top and the underside of the stem ahead of the button. There was 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 thick lava overflow. The outer edge looked to be in decent condition. The stem is oxidized, calcified and has tooth marks and chatter on both sides. He also took a photo 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 left side of the shank. The photo shows the stamping “MALAGA”. The stamping is very readable under the heavy grime.Before I started working on the pipe itself I went back and reread what I had found when I had worked on many of the Malaga pipes that had come across my work table. I am including a few pieces of information that I have gathered in the process.

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, shank brushes 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 had some burn damage on the front and back side. The outer edge was rough and nicked. 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 the edges of the bowl. The top of the rim is rough and there is some burn damage and darkening on the inner edge on the front. The stem had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button on both sides.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank to show the condition. The “MALAGA” stamp is clear and readable. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of how the pipe looked. I decided to address the rim top and damaged inner edge of the bowl first. To remove the damage on the rim top and edges of the bowl sanded the top with 220 grit sandpaper. That removed a lot of the damage on the rim top and outer edge. I used a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to work on the inner edge of the rim and remove the darkening and clean up the damage.I sanded the bowl and rim with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to begin the process of removing the scratches and blending the restored rim top into the rest of the bowl. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the dust and debris. The photos tell the story. I polished the rim top and the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I dry 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 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. Before turning to work on the stem I decided to bend the stem to match the angels of the bowl. I “painted” it with a lighter to soften the vulcanite enough to bend it. I pressed the rim top flat against the desk top and bent the stem to the same angle. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame and was able to lift the tooth marks significantly. I filled in the ones that remained with black extra strength CA glue. I set it aside to cure. Once it cured I flattened the repair with a small file and then sanded it smooth with 220 grit sandpaper. It began to look much better. I turned to the stem to address the issues on the surface of both sides at the button. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad. I think I finally beat the oxidation.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 beautiful “Malaga” Quarter Bent Egg with a vulcanite tapered stem. It has a great look and feel. The shape of the bowl, the rim top and the cut of the 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 Malaga Quarter Bent Egg 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 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.41 ounces/40 grams. It is a beautiful pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly in the American Pipemakers Section if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking with me through the restoration.

Breathing new life in to a Beautiful “Malaga” Algerian Briar Canadian

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by Steve Laug

The “Malaga” Canadian is next pipe on the table. We purchased it off eBay on 08/22/24 from a seller in Harrison Township, Michigan, USA. The carver did a great job of shaping the pipe to follow the grain on the briar. The bowl, oval shank and straight tapered stem look very good. The bowl had a thick cake that overflowed with thick 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 grain around the bowl and shank is very nice mixed grain. The stamping on the top of the shank read “MALAGA”. On the underside it is stamped ALGERIAN BRIAR. The stem had light tooth marks and chatter on the top and the underside of the stem ahead of the button. 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 thick lava overflow. The outer edge looked to be in decent condition. The stem is oxidized, calcified and has light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. He also took a photo 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 and underside of the shank. The photos show the stamping “MALAGA” on the top and ALGERIAN BRIAR on the underside. The stamping is very readable both sides of the shank.Before I started working on the pipe itself I went back and reread what I had found when I had worked on many of the Malaga pipes that had come across my work table. I am including a few pieces of information that I have gathered in the process.

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, shank brushes 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 had some burn damage on the front and back side. The outer edge was rough and nicked. 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 the edges of the bowl. The top of the rim is rough and the outer edges are chipped and rough. There is some burn damage and darkening on the inner edge on the left side. The stem had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button on both sides.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank to show the condition. The “MALAGA” stamp is and the ALGERIAN BRIAR stamp are clear and readable. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of what the pipe looked like.I decided to address the rim top and damaged inner edge of the bowl first. To remove the damage on the rim top and edges of the bowl sanded the top with 220 grit sandpaper. That removed a lot of the damage on the rim top and outer edge. I used a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to work on the inner edge of the rim and remove the darkening and clean up the damage.I sanded the bowl and rim with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to begin the process of removing the scratches and blending the restored rim top into the rest of the bowl. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the dust and debris. The photos tell the story. With the sanding I found a fill on the left side of the shank that is solid. There also appears to be one on the lower right side of the bowl that is also solid. 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 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 the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad. I think I finally beat the oxidation.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 beautiful Malaga Algerian Briar Canadian with a vulcanite tapered stem. It has a great look and feel. The shape of the bowl, the rim top and the cut of the 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 Malaga Algerian Briar Canadian 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 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.23 ounces/35 grams. It is a beautiful pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly in the American Pipemakers Section if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Send me a message or an email to slaug@uniserve.com Thanks for walking with me through the restoration.

New Life for an interesting “Malaga” Wire Rusticated saddle stem Billiard

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by Steve Laug

This interesting Wire Rusticated Bent Billiard was purchased on 09/18/2024 on eBay where a seller from Cadiz, Kentucky, USA was selling it. It is a rich brown rusticated briar with a thin band around the shank end. The stem is an acrylic saddle stem. The rusticated finish was quite clean though there was dust in the grooves of the finish. The bowl was quite clean and recently reamed. The bottom of the bowl was raw briar showing that it had not been smoked to the bottom of the bowl. There faint aroma of tobacco in the bowl and shank. The rusticated rim top was quite clean and the inner edge looked very good. The pipe is stamped on the smooth band around the shank and reads “MALAGA”. The vulcanite, saddle stem had no stamping on the sides. It had scratches, tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. It was really an interesting rustication and stain that showed depth and variations of colour around the bowl. I took photos of it before I started the cleanup process. The bowl itself was quite clean with just a minimal cake on the walls of the bowl. I took photos of the rim top to show how clean it looked and the condition of the top and edges of the bowl. The vulcanite saddle stem surface had some scratches and tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.The stamping on the smooth band around the shank read “MALAGA” on the underside. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the look of the pipe. I would need to bend the stem slightly to match the flow of the bowl.Before I started working on the pipe itself I went back and reread what I had found when I had worked on many of the Malaga pipes that had come across my work table. I am including a few pieces of information that I have gathered in the process.

I started my work on the pipe by reaming the bowl with a PipNet reamer. I used the first cutting head and took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and removed all the remnants of the cake. I scraped the rim top with the flat edge of the blade at the same time and removed most of the thick lava build up. I sanded the walls of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped in 220 grit sandpaper. The walls look very good at his point in the process. I cleaned out the shank, the airway and the mortise as well as the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, hard bristle and soft bristle pipe cleaners. It was actually quite clean, which made me think that the seller had done a good cleanup job on the pipe.I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I scrubbed the lava on the rim top and overflow on the outside of the bowl with the soap. I rinsed the briar with warm water to remove the grime and debris of the scrubbing. It looked significantly better after the scrubbing. Once I cleaned the bowl with the soap 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 and a horse hair 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. With the bowl finished I turned my attention back to the stem. I heated the bite marks in the stem surface with a heat gun. I was able to raise some of them significantly. I also heated it enough to bend the stem to match the angles on the bowl. Once I had them bent to the right angle I set the bend with cold water. I took photos of the newly bent stem and the look on the bowl. I filled in the remaining tooth marks with extra strength, rubberized black CA glue. I set the stem aside and let it cure. Once it cured I flattened the repairs with a small file. I continued to blend it into the stem surface with 220 grit sandpaper. Once I finished the blending the stem surface looked much better. I sanded the surface of the stem with the 2 x 2-inch sanding pads – 320-3500 grit pads to clean up the sanding marks on the stem surface. By the final 3500 grit pad the stem started to really shine.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 gave the stem a final polish with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish both Fine and Extra Fine. I rubbed the stem with them and then gave them a final coat of Obsidian Oil. I set it aside to dry. This is a beautiful Wire Rusticated “Malaga” Bent Billiard with a vulcanite saddle stem. It has a great look and feel. The shape of the bowl, the rusticated rim top and the cut of the briar work well to highlight the beauty of the pipe. I polished stem and the bowl 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 rusticated briar took on life with the buffing. The rich colour of the stain 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 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.19 ounces/62 grams. It is a beautiful pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly in the American Pipemakers Section if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking with me through the restoration.

Restoring a Lightly Smoked Handmade by Erik Nording Bulldog

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a lightly beauty. It is dusty and dirty from sitting and smells lightly of tobacco. We purchase it from a seller on Facebook marketplace on 04/30/25 in Portland, Oregon. It is a smooth Bulldog with a diamond shank. The Bullcap top is rusticated to look like plateau. The shank end has a light bevel and the stem is a military style bit. It is stamped on the left underside of the diamond shank and reads Handmade [over] By [over] Erik Nording. There is no shape number stamped on it. There is a light carbon bowl coating and the bowl was clean and had a light smell of tobacco in the bowl which led me to the conclusion that the bowl had been smoked. The rim top and the inner edge of the bowl looked very good. The mortise was also clean with no oils or tars darkening it. The finish on the bowl and shank was dull but otherwise in great condition and the acrylic stem was new looking. There were not any tooth marks or chatter on the top and underside on and near the button. There was a Nording “N” logo stamped on the top side of the stem. I took photos of the pipe before I started my cleanup work. They tell the story and give a glimpse of the promise that we see in this pipe. I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the current condition. The rusticated “plateau style” rim top is in perfect condition with no nicks or flaws. The bowl photo shows the light carbon coating on the walls. The walls do not have any tobacco debris or ash on them at all. The stem photos show how clean the stem is other than scratching on the surface.I took photos of the heel of the bowl to capture the stamping. It is faint but readable as noted above but a bit hard to capture in the photos. I removed the stem from the shank and took photos of the overall look of the pipe. It is a beautiful pipe.I turned my attention to the pipe itself. I wiped out the inside of the bowl with a paper towel to lightly remove the dust in bowl coating on the pipe. It looked much better at this point. The bowl still smelled like light tobacco. I am pretty certain the pipe has been lightly smoked. I scraped off the loose coating with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded it smooth with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel. The bowl is smooth now but I left a smooth coat on the walls for protection.I cleaned out the shank and airway using alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners – both bristle and clean ones. The shank was clean though there was some stain from the briar and some light tars and oils that came out of the shank and some bowl coating out of the entry of the airway in the bowl. I cleaned the airway in the stem at the same time and the airway had some tobacco debris and oils that came out.I scrubbed the briar and the inside of the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I rinsed the bowl with warm running water. The bowl was clean and it smelled fresh. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding the briar with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the debris left behind by sanding. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished hand polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I wiped it on with my fingers and buffed it off with a soft cloth. The stem really began to have a deep glow. I gave it a final wipe down with Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I am excited to finish this Nording Handmade Smooth Bulldog with a polished military bit style 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 hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful grain on the sides of the bowl with the black vulcanite stem. This smooth Nording Handmade Bulldog is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 49 grams/1.73 ounces. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your rack let me know by message or by email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for joining me in my work on this pipe.

Restoring a second unique Astley’s Root Briar Specialty Sitter Freehand

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a rugged almost primitive looking sitter with unique rustication and carving around the bowl. We purchased the pipe on 11/10/20 from a seller in Noberly, Maryland, USA. It is stamped on the flat underside of the bowl and shank and read Astleys [over] 109 Jermyn St [over] London. The rim top was smooth as was the bottom of the bowl and shank. The shank itself was also smooth and there was a smooth nose on the front of the bowl. It is a pretty pipe. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was some darkening on the inner edge but no real damage. The rusticated grooves that ran vertically on the bowl were mixed with carved lines and swirls. It was very unique and almost primitive looking. The briar was dirty from use and the bowl looked dull. The stem is a vulcanite saddle stem. It was oxidized, calcified and had tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his work on it. He took photos of the rim top and the stem to show the condition. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and lava, darkening and grime on the rim edge. The photos of the stem show the tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the finish around the bowl sides to show carving and rustication around the bowl and the smooth shank. It is very unique looking. You can see the dust and debris in the finish. Jeff took some photos of the stamping on the heel of the bowl to give a sense of the condition. It is faint but still readable with a light. It reads as noted above. I had previously worked on a similar Astley’s Root Briar. I took some time to examine it carefully then spent time online seeing what I could find out about the pipe. I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-a8.html) and found a picture of a similar pipe. It is labelled the “Rock Briar” line. To be honest that did not help me much. I think it was not quite right in its labelling so I saved the screen capture below and kept digging.I turned next to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Astley’s) and found a great historic article about the shop and the brand. There was nothing specifically listed about what Pipephil call the Rock Briar line.

Astley’s was both a brand and name of a famous London tobacconist. The first shop was founded in 1862 and was located at 109 Jermyn Street, just down the road from the Charatan’s shop. They sold meerschaum pipes and later classic pipe shaped briar pipes. The owner of this shop was Mr. Paul Bentley whose family owned and ran the shop since the 1930’s. The shop closed some time ago, and the name of the brand was bought by Mordechai (Moty) Ezrati, who also owns the James Upshall pipe brand.

Astley’s served as an extremely exclusive and renowned shopping outlet for outstanding pipes for the British royalty and London gentry alike. Visitors to London sought out this shop as a ‘must visit’ during their stay. Although they never made their own pipes, the Astley branded pipe was made on contract by Charatan (until the 1980’s), James Upshall, Dunhill, L&JS, and Bill Taylor of Ashton pipes. Some sources (The Piperack for instance) say that Comoy’s and GBD had also made pipes for Astley’s. The shop always commanded extremely high prices for their much sought-after specimens.

After Charatan had changed hands and was sold to Herman Lane Limited in the United States, Astley’s continued with their high-grade pipe sales by presenting some of the best examples of British pipe manufacturing to pipe connoisseurs around the world.

Stamping: Astley’s, 109 Jermyn St, London (before, Wm Astley & Company, 109 Jermyn St S.W. London). Symbol: Styled white ‘A’.

One helpful link sent me to an Astley’s Catalogue I have on rebornpipes. I also have a hard copy here but somehow forgot about it (https://rebornpipes.com/2012/08/10/astleys-pipe-catalogue/). I flipped through the catalogue a page at a time hoping to find a listing of some sort for the “Rock Briar” line that Pipephil noted. Instead I found an almost identical pipe called an Astley’s Root Briar. It was described as follows:

These pipes are made of actual Roots of Briar and are not only unique in shape but can be relied upon to give a cool smoke. Each pipe is flattened underneath to rest upright on almost any surface. Only Astley’s can supply these.

I have included a copy of the page below showing the pipe and the Root Briar Line.Now I knew what I was working on. It is the second of these I have seen. I don’t know if they are rare but it is only the second one for me. I knew it was Root Briar Sitter that was uniquely carved and very individual in both its shape and look. Now it was time to work on it.

Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the 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 was very clean and the inner edge and top look much better. The stem showed light tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. I took the stem off the bowl and took a photo of the parts. It is an interesting pipe.I sanded the smooth portions of the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads carefully avoiding the stamping on the heel. I dry sanded with each pad and wiped it down with a damp cloth afterwards. I polished the briar bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the debris. The bowl took on a rich glow. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the plateau rim top surface with my fingertips and a 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 set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the tooth marks with the flame of a Bic lighter. I was able to lift the majority of them. One remained on both sides ahead of the button. Once the repairs cured I used a small file to smooth them out and recut the button. I sanded repair further with 220 grit sandpaper and blended them into the stem surface. I smoothed out the repaired surface and the rest of the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with Obsidian Oil.I polished the vulcanite stem 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 unusual Astley’s Root Briar Specialty Sitter with a saddle vulcanite stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The briar is clean and the carving and rustication on the sides and the grain on the rim top and heel really came alive. The rich stains gave the finish a sense of depth on the rustication with the polishing and waxing. I put the stem back on the bowl and 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 Astley’s Root Briar Sitter 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 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches x 2 inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 67 grams/ 2.36 ounces. This beautiful Freehand pipe will soon be on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section. It should make a great smoker for the next trustee. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on.

Restoring and Cleaning a Clogged Savinelli Tundra 802 Canadian

2 Replies

by Steve Laug

On the weekend I received a phone call from Brian, a fellow the local pipe shop referred to me. He had two Savinelli Balsa filter pipes that were clogged and had no airflow. He asked if I would clean and open them up for him. I received them in the post yesterday and opened the box that he sent them in. The first pipe I chose to work on was a Canadian shape. It was stamped Tundra on the topside of the shank and has a Savinelli S shield on the underside followed by the shape number 802. The finish was very dirty and sticky to touch. The bowl had a thick cake that completely covered the airway at the bottom of the bowl. The rim top had was covered by thick coat of lava that was sticky. The taper stem was multi-coloured acrylic. It had a bite trough in the underside ahead of the button and some deep tooth marks on the topside. The tenon was thin and was made to hold a Balsa filter. There was a clean and very damaged filter in the tenon. The shank and airways in both the mortise and stem were very dirty. I blew through the stem and it was clear and unclogged. I tried to blow through the shank and it was completely closed off with no airflow at all. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work. I took photos of the rim top and the stem to show the condition. You can see the cake in the bowl and overflow of lava on the rim top. The photos of the stem show the tooth marks and chatter on the top and the bite through on the underside of the stem. There are also bite marks on the top and underside of the button. I took photos of the stamping on the top and underside of the shank to capture it. The Tundra stamp and the stamping on the underside was faint but readable as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of the look of the pipe.I turned to the Savinelli website to see what it had to say about the Tundra line of pipes (https://www.savinelli.it/rw_en/savinelli-tundra-802.html). Interestingly, they had the same pipe pictured on the site with the following description.

This pipe series take inspiration from Tundra, typical landscape of cold countries. The warm finish and the coloured stem let appreciate a wide variety of brown shades. Here we propose you a splendid Canadian, model 802. Style which has as main feature a long and elliptical shank. The shank length allows the smoke to cool down, making it fresh and pleasant.

I started my work on the pipe by reaming the bowl with a PipNet reamer. I used the first cutting head and took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and removed all the remnants of the cake. I scraped the rim top with the flat edge of the blade at the same time and removed most of the thick lava build up. I sanded the walls of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped in 220 grit sandpaper. The walls look very good at his point in the process. I cleaned out the shank, the airway and the mortise as well as the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, hard bristle and soft bristle pipe cleaners. It was a very dirty pipe which just meant that it had really been enjoyed by the previous pipe man. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I scrubbed the lava on the rim top and overflow on the outside of the bowl with the soap. I rinsed the briar with warm water to remove the grime and debris of the scrubbing. It looked significantly better after the scrubbing. The darkening on the rim top was better but it would need a little more work. Once I cleaned the bowl with the soap it looked much better. To take the pipe to the next level, I polished the bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1200-15000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The grain started to rise to the surface and the repairs blended even more as I polished it. 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. With the the shank clear and the airway open it was time to work on the stem. It was clear, just dirty and I needed to address the bite through in the stem. The coloured acrylic made this challenging but not undo-able. I needed to also fill in the bite marks on the topside and the marks on the button edge as well. I greased a pipe cleaner with Vaseline and inserted it below the hole. I filled in the hole with clear CA glue, rebuilt the button edge and also filled in the tooth marks at the same time. I set it aside to cure. Once the repairs cured I used some small files to recut the button edge, reshape the surface and flatten the repair on the stem surface on both sides. I put the balsa filter back in the tenon to stiffen it and used 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the edges, the button top and the surface of the stem. It was looking good. The filled in bite through on the underside was visible but the beauty was it was underneath! I would continue to sand and work it to minimize the visibility but the repair was solid. I built up the flimsy and misshaped tenon surface with some clear CA glue. It also repaired the thin hairline cracks in the surface. Once it cured I sanded it smooth with 220 sandpaper. I sanded the surface of the acrylic taper stem with the 2 x 2-inch sanding pads – 320-3500 grit pads to clean up the sanding marks on the stem surface. By the final 3500 grit pad the stem started to really shine.I touched up the gold shooting star stamp on the top of the stem with Antique Gold Rub’n Buff. I pressed it into the stamp with a tooth pick and buffed it off with a soft towel. It looks 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 set it aside to dry. I am excited to finish this Savinelli Tundra 802 Canadian with an acrylic taper stem. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and then by hand with a microfibre cloth to deepen it. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful grain on the smooth bowl and shank. The polished grain on the pipe looks great with the repaired acrylic stem. This Savinelli Tundra Canadian is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 41 grams/1.45 ounces. This first Savinelli that Brian sent is a beautiful pipe that I will send to him once I have cleaned up the other pipe he sent. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of this resurrected beauty. It should be a great smoking pipe.