Question on Meerschaum "Burnout"

jgriff · Sep 14, 2013

I have a relatively inexpensive Meerschaum that has developed an odd problem. It's a freehand shape, so apparently, one corner of the pipe is really thin between the bowl and the exterior of the pipe. At first, I thought it was just dirty fingers but the bowl isn't blackening at one point (see Photo #2) and it's discoloring at the same spot in Photo #1. It gets hot right at that spot but otherwise, it's fine.
Is there a concern that this may worsen or burn through? Is there is anything I can do to "coat" that one spot? If it was a briar, then I'd just allow the cake to cover it but I don't leave any cake in a meer.
If this was an expensive pipe, then I'd probably send it back but the shipping would make it prohibitive and it smokes fine otherwise.

pipingruotsi · Sep 14, 2013

So it's not just the meer starting to color at the thinnest spot first? I've never had a meer burnout, but I guess more experienced meer smoker than I will have to weigh in on it.

jgriff · Sep 15, 2013

At first the easier coloring was my thought too but the same spot inside the bowl is still white, while everything else is blackening. I'm not really sure what it means.

wyfbane · Sep 15, 2013

You must almost be careful pushing your pipe cleaner too hard. There is a (really nice) Meer at my B&M that a very unhappy owner donated after cleaning his pipe to death. Wore a hole right through the front of the thing.
=(

jerry · Sep 15, 2013

It's true that repeated use of a pipe cleaner can eventually create a hole in the meerschaum, if the sharp end of the pipe cleaner digs into the pipe. So, when using a pipe cleaner on a meer, I watch what I'm doing, and stop short of contact with the bowl. I know this from experience :-(

petes03 · Sep 15, 2013

@jerry, I do that with all my pipes! As to the OP, I'd say it just has a natural hot spot, and is coloring faster in that area. A friend of mine has a meer that's doing exactly the same thing. I'm no meer expert, but that'd be my guess. I notice, when smoking my meer, it seems hotter in a certain spot, though I haven't had any issues with the coloring.

pipingruotsi · Sep 16, 2013

griff, It looks like the general consensus of the expert non-expert meer smokers here is it's just a hot spot. lol

Unless you can see something that we can't, I'd say just smoke it and see what happens. Meerschaum seems to do odd things. I have one that there's a thumb sized spot on one side that went dark brown almost immediately and another that has a hairline surface crack on the shank that has hardly colored while everything around it is dark.

It's a beautiful pipe, BTW

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