Chacom Black & White

dryseason91 · Nov 5, 2013

I had been drooling over one of these beauties - http://www.jamesfox.ie/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=209_406&products_id=1537 - for quite some time, but the cost as well as the lack of info about them online stayed my trigger finger. The fatal stroke came when I emailed Fox and discovered that the meer lining was pressed, not block-carved, and my interest waned. Still curious about them though. Anyone have any experience of the Black & White, or of meer-lined briars in general?

jkenp · Nov 5, 2013

A number of years ago, Turkey outlawed the export of meerschaum blocks. That put old European carvers out of business. It also made a market for lined pipes that hadn't really been around before then. In the 70's they were all over and rather inexpensive.
The decision revolves around what you want and the reason. If you are looking for meer just to smoke and try, a true meer wouldn't be more expensive -- with a bit of looking. I picked up a nice smooth Billiard from http://vikingclubpipes.bigcartel.com a while back for about half the price of the pipe you are looking at.

dryseason91 · Nov 5, 2013

@ jkenp - Agreed. For 100 euro I would no doubt be better off just getting a proper meer. I just like the concept of meer/briar for some reason, and the Black & Whites look great. 100 quids' worth of looking great? Probably not.

mso489 · Nov 5, 2013

One of my birthday pipes was a Chacom 185 briar straight billiard that happened to be in green, an

exclusive with Iwan Ries, and now sold out and discontinued, I believe. The size, weight, and workmanship

on the pipe is excellent. I'm not keen on meerschaum lined. I like the organic connection of the bowl with

the fire. If I went to meerschaum, I'd buy a meerschaum pipe. If a carbon layer will do as well, why buy a

lining. But I've not owned a lined pipe. I do have a smooth polished ebony pipe, a Peterson brandy B11,

with silver-colored bands, which I like a lot. Remember, once you start smoking this lined pipe, it will not

be the bright tuxedo black and white, but black and brown.

dryseason91 · Nov 5, 2013

@mso489 - That's an excellent point about the meer coloration, hadn't thought of it. I'd certainly prefer my pipe to look more James Bond than 70s prom rental.

namuna · Nov 5, 2013

Man, that's a beauty!...I'm glad you stated something detrimental of it, I was about ready to pull the trigger on that beauty myself!

andrew369 · Nov 5, 2013

I have been window licking the cabinet with those pipes in it everytime I have gone into James Fox, but mso is right about the white gradually going brown. Wouldn't look great against the black at all. Would the pressed really be that much inferior to block carved meerschaum though? Can always get cheap, fully carved Turkish meers off ebay too. Not sure how high quality they would be though at such a low a price.

peter70 · Nov 5, 2013

Hi,
pressed Meerschaum has to be held together, so they use a kind of glue, but this takes the porousity from the material. Not only that, but the glue can impart a smell and taste to the tobacco. Eventually, the lining will crack and fall out, I would not even spend the amount of a Corn Cob for such a pipe, if I wanted to smoke it.
Kind regards,

Peter

shutterbug · Nov 5, 2013

@dryseason91:

My Nephew brought me back a Black and White from James Fox and I absolutely love it. It smokes cool, looks great (especially after the Meer begins to colour nicely), and I've always been a fan of Chacoms. Don't be too concerned about the Meer whether it's block or pressed...it's a great pipe and looks good too. Clean-up with the pipe is ridiculously easy and the briar never gets hot enough to worry about any stain/veneer changes. If you would like, I can post a picture of what it looks like when you smoke it to a nice brown...
Shutterbug

dryseason91 · Nov 5, 2013

Thanks Shutterbug, that would be great! Glad you're getting on well with it.

shutterbug · Nov 5, 2013

Smoking a bowl now, so I thought I would show you the Meer bowl before I started smoking. Trust me it's a great smoker, as I am sure most meer lined bowls are...it smoke cool (I'm smoking some Virginia No.1 and it's not hot at all)(That should be proof enough)!

Is it worth 100 Euro? Maybe, depends if you like the look of it. In terms of care and not worrying about cake build up, to me it's worth 100 Euro.
Shutterbug

dryseason91 · Nov 5, 2013

That actually looks pretty nice, like a chocolate-cream Oreo.

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