Oldguyoldpipes, just send it to me and I'll tell you all about it! Cost: one old pipe (this one)!
Serious answer: No, your pipe absolutely, positively IS real block meerschaum. Stem definitely not original-- it would have been amber and yours is lucite. The subject is Kaiser William, wearing his Pour le Merite medal. Give it some love. Send it to Ric at Briarville and ask for a straight, amber-looking stem (this was not made for a bent stem). It's a holder for a cheroot, which is a narrow cigar. Cheroots were the popular cigar style before the wider cigars we know today became popular. It seems odd to smoke a cigar poking up like it would be here, but at the time it was very common.
Bottom line: You bought a really great meerschaum pipe, likely German-made, probably in the 1880-1890 era (William died in 1888 and this depicts an older William, see below - the Pour le Merite is just below his collar). I have one cheroot holder of the Kaiser, and if he's really not to your taste, let me know.
Thank You for the information and the photo. I plan to hold onto it. I liked the carving, but was surprised by the size when I received it. I did lightly sand down the bowl and the residue was a very fine, talc-like powder. Identical to other meerschaums that I have cleaned. I do not plan to smoke cheroots, but was wondering why I couldn't just smoke pipe tobacco out of it. The residue when I got it was pretty foul smelling and I have cleaned it repeatedly. The residue is gone now and so is the smell. I just wonder if these old pipes could harbor mold that my cleaning doesn't get? I use Don Q 151 rum on the stem and even the lower bowl with regular pipe cleaners. I work on cleaning my estate pipes for over an hour to make sure everything is flushed out. Any issues in this area?
