As yon rooster heralds the arrival of another September morning, I detected a musty taste from my bargain Mastercraft meerschaum I purchased on eBay recently. The pipe has seen very little use, and came in a set of two, in a double case, likely made in the late forties or early fifties, and presented as a seldom used gift. One pipe is missing, but not one, but two promotional papers promising Mastercraft will repair a meerschaum for two dollars or replace it for four dollars, remain as evidence it was once a set of two, long ago.
The pipe smokes deliciously and cool, with the Sutliff raspberry flavored cavendish overwhelming the slight mustiness imparted by long storage in a dank basement. It is of middling to good smoking quality but low grade meerschaum was used to make it.
Years ago a man who owned a Springfield Missouri pipe shop, and sold meerschaums ranging in price from $200 to a select few for $1,000 explained to me the difference between grades of meerschaum and qualities of meerschaum within each grade.
The lower grades of meerschaum have foreign minerals in them that affect their beauty. You can see splotchiness in my factory pipe made on a machine, that removed it from the higher grades used for hand carving.
But meerschaum is also selected for smoking qualities, the lighter and whiter the better. The best quality meerschaum comes from deep in the ground, and is white and porous to the point of translucency. But some of the highest quality meerschaum has foreign material in the block, which would affect it’s beauty (like sand pits or small voids in briar) but not it’s ability to absorb tars and nicotine. Also, higher quality meerschaum colors easier, but lower grade meerschaum colors unevenly.
I read on the internet now only of different grades of meerschaum, so perhaps the difference between grades and qualities within grades of meerschaum was something that man said to sell meerschaum pipes.
But he sure sold a lot, of meerschaum pipes.
Nevertheless, using his grading and quality method this pipe is of low grade, but middling to good quality.
The pipe smokes deliciously and cool, with the Sutliff raspberry flavored cavendish overwhelming the slight mustiness imparted by long storage in a dank basement. It is of middling to good smoking quality but low grade meerschaum was used to make it.
Years ago a man who owned a Springfield Missouri pipe shop, and sold meerschaums ranging in price from $200 to a select few for $1,000 explained to me the difference between grades of meerschaum and qualities of meerschaum within each grade.
The lower grades of meerschaum have foreign minerals in them that affect their beauty. You can see splotchiness in my factory pipe made on a machine, that removed it from the higher grades used for hand carving.
But meerschaum is also selected for smoking qualities, the lighter and whiter the better. The best quality meerschaum comes from deep in the ground, and is white and porous to the point of translucency. But some of the highest quality meerschaum has foreign material in the block, which would affect it’s beauty (like sand pits or small voids in briar) but not it’s ability to absorb tars and nicotine. Also, higher quality meerschaum colors easier, but lower grade meerschaum colors unevenly.
I read on the internet now only of different grades of meerschaum, so perhaps the difference between grades and qualities within grades of meerschaum was something that man said to sell meerschaum pipes.
But he sure sold a lot, of meerschaum pipes.
Nevertheless, using his grading and quality method this pipe is of low grade, but middling to good quality.