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FLDRD

Lifer
Oct 13, 2021
1,668
6,194
Arkansas
Last week I got my first meer and began the process of learning about it. In simplified terms, my palate thus far seems to think that the meer generally "separates" the flavors while my briars seem to "blend" them together more. Am I way off base with this, or is it a generality that others have found?
 
Jan 28, 2018
12,953
134,628
66
Sarasota, FL
I don't find any significant differences. Perhaps Meers are slightly more neutral. Once they're broken in, you're smoking on the layer of cake that's built up, not sure what magic one would expect from the vessel the cake is surrounded by. What, you think the briar or Meer has some inexhaustible supply of "juice" they exude that flavors the tobacco?
 

F4RM3R

Part of the Furniture Now
Nov 28, 2019
567
2,512
38
Canada
Yes I’ve found similar. The cake on a briar will imbue flavours of previously smoked bowls that can serve to meld or smooth out bolder smokes and enhance subtler blends like a Virginia flake. The meer does have a clear flavour that can seem to brighten up blends.
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
15,678
29,398
45
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
Ha ha, this always happens to me. I put a meer in my shopping cart at smoking pipes, and then I read a thread like this where those who like meers like them for reasons that I think I would hate them, and people who hate them make a lot of sense to me. Now, I am off to change my order, ha ha.
oh try one and make up your own opinion. I personally find them versus briar to be a I prefer briar but meer is neat sometimes and with some blends.
 
oh try one and make up your own opinion. I personally find them versus briar to be a I prefer briar but meer is neat sometimes and with some blends.
Nope, I just cut the line. I think that they're pretty when they color up. But, the more I think about it, it's the aroma of briar that keeps me smoking pipes.
Other than the aesthetics of the material, I notice no difference between meer and briar.
I love that you never notice any differences in things. That's so Captain! puffy
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
15,678
29,398
45
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
Nope, I just cut the line. I think that they're pretty when they color up. But, the more I think about it, it's the aroma of briar that keeps me smoking pipes.

I love that you never notice any differences in things. That's so Captain! puffy
that's so weird about him. Yet I half agree. The difference isn't mind bending or world shaking.
 
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FLDRD

Lifer
Oct 13, 2021
1,668
6,194
Arkansas
I think the smoke from a Meer is thin compared to a broken in briar that has a nice cake and the pipe has been dedicated to either genres or specific blends.

I have a nice IMP Meer and it pretty much sucks compared to my briars. That is my experience, others love their Meers.

"Thin", I might understand that a bit, it could be similar to the "separating" I think I notice. But it definitely does not suck to my palate; simply good in a different way.
 
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FLDRD

Lifer
Oct 13, 2021
1,668
6,194
Arkansas
I don't find any significant differences. Perhaps Meers are slightly more neutral. Once they're broken in, you're smoking on the layer of cake that's built up, not sure what magic one would expect from the vessel the cake is surrounded by. What, you think the briar or Meer has some inexhaustible supply of "juice" they exude that flavors the tobacco?
Maybe you weren't referring to the meer, but I've read that a cake is to be avoided in one and that's how I intend on using mine. I'm slowly developing a thin cake in some of my briars but I tend to keep them fairly cleaned out at the moment.
 

FLDRD

Lifer
Oct 13, 2021
1,668
6,194
Arkansas
meers do seem to do something to the flavor, however the funny part is I find different briars I have could be explained the same way.
Well, my favorite blends certainly respond differently in different briars, but the overall "separate" component I've only sensed in the meer thus far. But I'm early in the overall journey.
 

FLDRD

Lifer
Oct 13, 2021
1,668
6,194
Arkansas
Ha ha, this always happens to me. I put a meer in my shopping cart at smoking pipes, and then I read a thread like this where those who like meers like them for reasons that I think I would hate them, and people who hate them make a lot of sense to me. Now, I am off to change my order, ha ha.
Well I have certainly enjoyed both enough that I quickly acquired a 2nd meer. Yet to smoke it but it's there.
 

Michigan_Bill

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 14, 2021
921
3,418
Macomb County, Michigan
I'm relatively new to pipe smoking, but in my experience a clay pipe makes the tobacco flavors "brighter" and a briar makes them "warmer." By "brighter" I mean the flavors are more separate and more forward. By "warmer" I mean smoother and more mixed. This is of course very subjective and YMMV. I wonder if meerschaums would be similar. It's also possible that as my palate develops perceptions could change.