Meerschaum Pipe, waxed after one year

[Garlisk]

I purchased this pipe 1 year ago, for "March Meerschaum Madness." I waxed it today, a year and a month later. I've probably put about 50 bowls of tobacco through it, +/- 15 bowls. When I began I told myself I would track each bowl, and that lasted about 3 bowls...
Aaaanyway, here are some pictures. It was pure white when I got it. I am pretty pleased.

At the beginning of this month:


Tonight, after waxing.

 

[greenmonster714]

Very nice pipe. Ya hear folks say a tobacco tastes different in a briar or cob. What's your favorite to smoke with that pipe?

 

[Garlisk]

I'm not sure I have a favorite, to be honest. Not trying to dodge the question, but I don't find the meerschaum to hold flavors like a briar so I tend to smoke whatever I fancy at the moment. To be even more honest, I'm not picky about ghosting regardless...I just haven't had it bother me with the notable exception of lakelands. I do have a briar that I am dedicating to VA's just to see if I can notice a difference after some years.

Neither of my two lovely meerschaum pipes are dedicated. This one has a wider chamber, and so I tend to lean towards english blends with it, and the other is taller and narrower, and gets more VA/Vapers, but I mix it up even there. I will also smoke light, non-goopy aros in them such as Nording Labrador/Tinderbox 1928.

I saw a video of a fellow discussing meerschaum once, and the term he used was "precise flavors." I'm not sure how to describe it, but I would tend to agree with that. I never go, "Boy, I can really taste the meerschaum tonight." With a cob or a briar, you might get hints of corn (sweetness) or wood...especially before its seasoned. Meerschaum seems very neutral to me.

That's a bit more than you asked for, but there you go!

 

[mwaller]

Nice Baki pipe! I have one of his in a "prince" shape.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Very nice pipe. Ya hear folks say a tobacco tastes different in a briar or cob. What's your favorite to smoke with that pipe?

Meerschaum is the best, but meerschaum smokers are so nice, they'll never come out and say it.

 

[deluxestogie]

Here are Bob's complaints about Meerschaum pipes.

For their apparent bulk, they can be surprisingly fragile, especially at the bowl/shank juncture. It's a natural mineral, and sometimes just fractures with ease. Over the decades, I've had the shank of 4 different meerschaum pipes break: one while puffing on it, one while holding it by the bit to insert a pipe cleaner, one by mystery (probably a child messed with it), and one by gently tapping the bowl on the cork bumper of an ash tray. Others have lasted forever (40+ years). So I attribute this to the random nature of the mineral.

The bits on my Turkish meerschaums are attached using a screw-in, plastic or Nylon connector that is always the narrowest passage.

The bits on Turkish meerschaums are usually too thick at the mouth, poorly shaped, and are made of an uncomfortably hard plastic. I believe these are fashioned after the 19th century tradition of using true amber for the bit. It looks like amber. Yippie!

There used to be a pipe company in today's Tanzania called Tanganyika Meerschaum. The meerschaum from their African mines was coarser and usually speckled with color impurities. So all of the Tanganyika Meerschaum pipes came with painted bowls. They were relatively cheap. They also came with comfortable, vulcanite, "free-hand" type bits. I still have both of mine (from about 1973). The don't smoke quite as cool as the Turkish meerschaums, but I enjoy them more because of their better draw (no restricting connector), softer and thinner bit, and their documented durability. Since they are painted (one is entirely black, the other a mottled cream), there is no emotional stress over how they are held or smoked. As a consequence of distinguished quality, function and pricing of Tanganyika Meerschaum pipes, they are no longer in business.

BUT...Turkish Meerschaums win the beauty prize by a mile.

[Pressed Meerschaum is not meerschaum. It's the meerschaum version of "Brylon".]

Bob

 

[Garlisk]

Bob, I'm going to expound on some of the points you've mentioned just to share and spread the info. No intent of argument or trying to "prove you wrong."

My experience with meerschaum is limited (only 5 turkish meerschaum pipes have passed through my hand, and 2 African meerschaums.) I have heard that they can be fragile, but I personally have yet to have one break. Other fellows I know of have had issues, though, so it does seem you are dealing with a bit of luck-of-the-draw on the material.

As for the stem connection, many modern meerschaum pipes no longer use screw in tenons. I've had three screw in tenons (both africans and one turkish) and they were all...lacking. The latest greatest meerschaum technology is a push/pull delrin. In this, it operates much like a briar pipe.



Some artisans have even been experimenting with some very non-conventional methods. My other meerschaum is an H. Cor Reverse Calabash:



These also have wider airways, comparable to briar. The briar stem is on the left and the meerschaum stem on the right. The briar is countersunk, but otherwise they appear to have the same diameter hole.


A comparison of the stem thickness. My Baki stem (top) has the thickest bit in this group, but it is a good size and nowhere near as thick as the amber styled stems (those are very annoying.) The H. Cor (bottom) actually has the thinnest bit of any of my pipes. I like it very much. The middle stem is from a briar pipe.




I don't baby my meerschaum pipes. I hold them in my hand, and I take them on walks. I treat them as the tool that they are...for smoking tobacco...and I very much enjoy the smoke they provide.

I do appreciate your practical nature, Bob...I'd like to say I'm somewhat similar. In defense of that position, I'll just end this by saying my #1 smoked pipe...probably 80% of the smokes I have...is in a Missouri Meerschaum General. If all I had was corn cobs, I'd be happy...but I am glad to have other options including my Turkish meers.

 

[deluxestogie]

...many modern meerschaum pipes...

Bingo! I am antique. My Meerschaum pipes are antiques. (I believe the last ones I ever purchased were a half-dozen of them, of various styles, around 1981, during a brief visit to some pipe shops in Turkey. They were in the price range of $5 to $15 each.) Although Delrin was invented in 1960, it didn't make it into pipe construction for another 30 or 40 years, so far as I know. Delrin is great stuff: heat-stable, durable, machinable, self-lubricating.

I love learning that my aggravations are out of date. Too bad that the current prices of nice meerschaums are out of range for me.

The meers you guys have posted are truly beautiful. And seem to be more practical than the meers of old.

Bob