Recent content by gnesiohamartolos

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  1. G

    Searching For Affordable But Good Meerschaum

    Obtaining estate (used) meerschaum pipes is certainly a way to acquire high quality pieces at reasonable prices. Of the approximately two dozen meerschaum pipes I currently possess only one was purchased new. Virtually all were obtained via an online auction site. There are both benefits and...
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    Another Meerschaum

    metalheadycigarguy is unfortunately correct. The late Fred Bass collection of meerschaum pipes are being offered at premium prices because his survivors are trading upon his name. No one can blame them but they ought to remember that Fred's fame was limited to a very small audience and if the...
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    J. Sommer Meerschaum, have questions.

    J. Sommer appears to have been part of the Sommer Frères, Aux Carrieres d'Écume [meerschaum]. The Sommer company won the Gold Medallion in 1878, 1889 and 1900. This firm is not to be confused with the Sommer firm in Firenze, Italy. This pipe appears to have been exported to the Philippines...
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    The Old Vicar

    This is a response to brightleaf from a retired Lutheran pastor. Among Lutheran clergy, those who partake of pipes, cigars and “Lutheran beverages” are most often the most confessional, that is, most conservative. (Among us, “conservative” is a socio-political designation.) We are the ones...
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    Meerschaum Showing Tiny Pits in Bowl After First Smoke

    If Paykoc offers to replace the pipe after you sent photographs of the pits on the bowl’s interior surface, you may want to seriously consider its offer. Although you did not purchase the pipe directly from Paykoc, the company does not wish the pipe to crack and tarnish its reputation. The...
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    Miracle Meer

    Cortez is probably referring to mini-meerschaum pipes that are typically meant for the domestic Turkish tourist. 99% of Turks who smoke consume only cigarettes. They purchase meerschaum pipes as decorative pieces that will never be smoked. Consequently, these are made from inferior meerschaum...
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    A New Unsmoked CAO Meerschaum

    Historical footnote. CAO is Cano Ogenzer, the Columbia University educated Turkish engineer of Armenian ancestry whose CAO once sold meerschaum pipes though he moved on to become a top premium cigar maker. He seems to have retired from that as well. Once read (can't remember where) that...
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    Final Results on My Meerschaum Refurb...

    I rejoice that there are those like you who buy estate stummels and restore pipes by installing newer, more durable stems (such as your acrylic). If you smoke your pipe carefully, it will still be functional long after you depart this life. The workmanship you invested in this pipe will...
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    For Anyone Who Might Have an Extra $3000 of PAD Money Around...

    AIP Meerschaum Working Group's catalog of the world's meerschaum pipe carvers (excluding Turkey) c. 1800–1925 does not list a carver using the name RMP or United States Meerschaum. One of these pipes was definitely smoked and incompletely cleaned; it is not new. The case and lining are too new...
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    Meerschaum Curious

    Jayski is correct about the differences between block meerschaum and pressed meerschaum formed from chips and dust cemented by a binding agent. Meerschaum (sepiolite) seen under an electron microscope shows a lattice network through which moisture seeps into the bowl. This results in a drier...
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    Meerschaum Curious

    Meerschaum is sepiolite, a hydrous magnesium silicate mineral clay. It withstands intense heat without scorching or burning through as briar does. However, high enough heat might crack it, so go easy if using a butane jet lighter that is not recommended for lighting pipes. Meerschaum is...
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    Assistance, S'il Vous Plait

    jpmcwjr, to answer your question I first have to clarify. This thread concerns only the French stummel. I own the other two pictured above as well. All three purchased separately over the course of two years on eBay. pitchfork is right. F. W. Kaldenberg & Sons of New York was one of the...
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    Assistance, S'il Vous Plait

    Does anyone know or can venture an educated guess, as to the identity of this pipe’s maker? I bought this on eBay in 2016. It appears to be a Parisian Ruhla-eierkop with a mushroom shank typical of the eierkop cased meerschaum stummel. The maximum width is 80mm and the height is 61mm. On the...
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    Artificially Coloring a Meerschaum Stummel

    Carl Avery Werner’s Tobaccoland (1922) is an often cited book from about a century ago. Chapter 38 deals with artificially coloring a meerschaum pipe stummel. I have not attempted to use this technique, almost certain will not ever do so and do not recommend it. I am reporting this merely as...
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    Unusual and Beautiful Coloring

    Another method for clearing the accumulated tar from a pipe is one I have never used but have read about in several different places. A pipe that has been smoked for decades may develop a bitter or sour taste that no amount of regular cleaning seems to remedy. Many smokers resort to a simple...