Good eye, it is VERY steep. But you have to realize that this pipe was originally designed to have very long cherry stem with a cork on the end and a vulcanite mouth piece. So I had to cut the spigot to fit the existing mortise. It’s very shallow and has no sump. I cut the spigot to get as much contact as I could, but I still wouldn’t walk around clenching this monster. Normally I would cut a spigot and them ream the mortise to fit it but it’s so shallow I couldn’t do that on this one. The spigot still sits right on top of the draft hole.
Zat a Duke? Wonder how many velvet coupons you had to send off for that one?
Well I feel like worked way too hard on mine now, I got a whole tub full of old stems. I could have just turned an adapter for one of those…
As I understand it, the case was so you could smoke/color the pipe without touching it. Touching a meerschaum you were coloring was believed to make em splotchy. You know, white smoking gloves and that nonsense. And no this one doesn’t appear to have been smoked a great deal.
Now you know the secret of non greatnessZat a Duke? Wonder how many velvet coupons you had to send off for that one?
In the 19th century it was common practice to sew a meerschaum pipe into a chamois pouch in an effort to accelerate coloring, the smoking case was the next logical step in convenience. This way you could open up the case without touching the pipe to check on the progress of coloring. These unadorned Kalmachs were sold/marketed solely for coloring. It was a gentlemanly pursuit. The case is the only reason I bought this pipe. It’s a C.P.F. (Colossus Pipe Factory) the predecessor to KB&B and Kaywoodie. They were known for high quality meerschaums. Without the case it’s just another unmarked old meerschaum.
I quite like the case. Nice job with the stem, too.
