What the heck... a few meers

Since I'm on a roll with posts and pictures and what not, here are a few of my Meerschaums that are near and dear to me.

This was my first real pipe. (I don't count the chinese plastic disaster I had for a couple weeks) I picked this up from one of the shops the Turks ran on Camp Victory, Iraq for 60 bucks. Since I had just started smoking a pipe, I wanted something simple and not pretentious. This seemed to fit the bill. It's not my best smoker, but I'll never get rid of it.

This was the second one I bought, from a different Turk. To hell with simple and unpretentious, I said. I can't get it to smoke worth a damn and I'll probably die before the bowl starts to color, but it sure is purty.

By the way, does anyone else think the way the bowl of a new meerschaum smells right after the first few smokes is one of the best things ever? Must be the beeswax.

My wife found this one in an antique store in Three Forks, Montana. It looks like it was dropped, busted, repaired and well-used over the years. I just wish I knew the history of this one, since it has so much character. It was my first attempt at restoring an antique. I managed to get it cleaned up and back into smoking shape without doing any damage. That is up until a couple weeks ago, when I managed to shatter the original amber stem! Luckily I found an old bakelite stem and a bone tenon in my stash fit and looked good.

And my latest, a $15 estate sale find which some of you may have already seen on another post.
So, just for the heck of it, there are four of my meerschaums. One day I'll get the rest photographed.

I haven't figured out how to embed posts I'm answering yet, but short answer to Zanthal is yes and no. New block meerschaum pipe are very light, but as you smoke and wax them, the tars and so forth from the tobacco are drawn into the meerschaum and add weight. That first meerschaum I bought was very light when I bought it, but now it weighs about the same as a briar. I have a several old estate meers that have a much more color and they seem to me to weigh about as much as my similar sized briars.

Oh, and generally speaking I prefer simple meerschaums like my first one. I have a few basic bent billiards and bent bulldogs, but only a couple fancy ones. Mostly, I like the way they look...and I'm clumsy. And since I actually hold my meerschaums in my hand when I smoke them, I find them easier to maintain.

--Speaking of being clumsy, are they fragile or prone to chipping or scratches?
They can be pretty fragile. Although I haven't broken any of mine, I know they don't survive impacts or banging around very well, and you'd never want to tap one out on anything hard because they can chip.
They can be easily scratched as well. I have several estate meerschaums and every one of them has picked up a few scratches in their lifetime. I like that those add a bit of character, so I'm no purist in that regard.
Basically, as long as you handle them with some respect and don't knock them around on hard surfaces, they should last. I'm willing to put up with them being a more fragile than briar because I like the way they smoke and look.
Really delicate carvings make me nervous though. Nervous=clumsy=fumble fingers.

Glad you like these. I'll have to photograph a few more and get them out here. By the way, I started another thread that hasn't gotten a response, concerning the pipe with the horse. The case is labeled as CPH. Not CPF. Anyone know anything about that company? I actually have a bulldog with the same label. I can't find anything online about it. Thought it might be a subsidiary or forerunner of CPF, but nothing I've read on CPF gives me any indication.

Anyone?

I thought I'd add another one. I just shot this today after a nice bowl of 1Q.

I picked this old estate bent bulldog up on Ebay without a stem. It has a nice deep, wide bowl and you can see it's had a good life. I found another bakelite stem and bone tenon in my stash of parts that worked on it, although I had to bend the stem. The stem is a teeny bit wide for the shank, but I'm OK with it.
By the way, this came with another bowl without a stem, a superlattice bent bulldog that I think is an SMS or CAO. Anyone know to find newer acrylic diamond shank stems or a good place to send it that doesn't charge an arm and a leg for a straightforward stem replacement? No point in telling me to check with my local tobacconist. We have only one place that even sells halfway decent pipes, but they specialize more in cigars and relabeled cigarette "pipe" tobacco. They tend to look a bit confused at the mention of a diamond shank.

Nice, deyro. i like the bulldog. The meer may be fragile, but the shape gives it the appearance of strength.

Click to expand...

Believe it or not, this thing survived a tumble off a its stand on a shelf, onto my desk and then onto the floor. Busted the tenon, but didn't hurt the pipe or the stem. Seems to be a rugged old fella.