A Rumination on a Musty low Grade Meerschaum of Middling to Good Quality

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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,763
13,788
Humansville Missouri
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.

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Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
I recall how tobacco shops routinely hosted meerschaum shows. I always enjoyed looking at the various carvings. I have three meerschaum pipes: two CAOs from the late 80s - one a gourd calabash with lattice carvings around the top, and the second CAO has lattice carvings around the bowl. Both are very nice smokers. The third calabash is a high quality meerschaum Lee Van Cleef from leevancleefpipe.com. It too is an outstanding smoker.
 

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Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
Below is my CAO Gourd Calabash Meerschaum. It was the first pipe I ever purchased. About six months ago I gave it a thorough cleaning which also meant replacing the cork seal between the gourd and the bowl. I am happy to report the pipe still smokes fine.IMG_4448.JPGIMG_4449.JPG

A few years later, I bought another meerschaum at a Meerschaum Pipe Show at John Dengler Tobacconist. Another lattice style pipe, this one is also a fine smoker.
IMG_4450.JPGIMG_4451.JPG

My latest meerschaum purchased for this last Christmas is a Lee Van Cleef style meerschaum from leevancleefpipe.com. I can't say enough about this pipe. Also, I asked for it to be made in 9mm. Why? I don't know, something different I suppose. But what a joy it is too smoke this one as well.

IMG_4452.JPGIMG_4453.JPG


As for grades of meerschaum, all three seem to be fairly high grade meerschaum. The Lee Van Cleef especially seems to be of a higher quality - the smoke from it is especially dry and clean.
 

jhowell

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 25, 2019
628
1,014
70
Phoenix, Arizona
Place strummel on the middle rack of oven. Leave oven door ajar. Set oven to 250 degrees. Walk away for 24 hours. Turn oven off and shut oven door for 12 hours. No more musty...
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,763
13,788
Humansville Missouri
All this is going to lead to the ruination of rumination.

This isn’t the first time I’ve smoked the mustiness out of a used pipe, but the others have all been made of briar or cob. I can only smell the mustiness sniffing the bowl of a cold pipe, on this one.

All usable meerschaum is white colored.

But your teeth were whiter years ago than today, and a dentist can whiten them back some, towards the whiteness they were.

If this were a Diamond solitaire it would weigh so many carats.

But then on diamonds, the quality is determined by color, “fire”, and brilliance yet the grade is determined by number and type of flaws.

If no flaws are detectable using a loupe to the naked eye, that is a certain grade.

You can easily see irregular splotches of something besides meerschaum in my bargain Mastercraft. There’s even tiny hints of rose colored rock, easily seen. Those would be flaws, in a Diamond.

But overall the pipe is white, and light as a feather. The quality of the meerschaum is acceptable. It will color, and it smokes wonderfully in spite of a tiny ghost smell of must before lighting.

It’s perfectly shaped, and once had a twin in the same box.

Mastercraft was a reseller and importer, not a manufacturer. Some long ago Christmas they must have contracted for so many identical twin sets cased in a box for so many dollars and then marketed this as a gift for some lucky Ward Cleaver grade guy to receive under the tree.

Ward had to know the missus wasn’t too wasteful on his present because if he dropped one of the two, he could get it fixed for two dollars or replaced for four.


Wonder where the other one went?

This one slept in a basement, for quite awhile.
 

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Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
This isn’t the first time I’ve smoked the mustiness out of a used pipe, but the others have all been made of briar or cob. I can only smell the mustiness sniffing the bowl of a cold pipe, on this one.

All usable meerschaum is white colored.

But your teeth were whiter years ago than today, and a dentist can whiten them back some, towards the whiteness they were.

If this were a Diamond solitaire it would weigh so many carats.

But then on diamonds, the quality is determined by color, “fire”, and brilliance yet the grade is determined by number and type of flaws.

If no flaws are detectable using a loupe to the naked eye, that is a certain grade.

You can easily see irregular splotches of something besides meerschaum in my bargain Mastercraft. There’s even tiny hints of rose colored rock, easily seen. Those would be flaws, in a Diamond.

But overall the pipe is white, and light as a feather. The quality of the meerschaum is acceptable. It will color, and it smokes wonderfully in spite of a tiny ghost smell of must before lighting.

It’s perfectly shaped, and once had a twin in the same box.

Mastercraft was a reseller and importer, not a manufacturer. Some long ago Christmas they must have contracted for so many identical twin sets cased in a box for so many dollars and then marketed this as a gift for some lucky Ward Cleaver grade guy to receive under the tree.

Ward had to know the missus wasn’t too wasteful on his present because if he dropped one of the two, he could get it fixed for two dollars or replaced for four.


Wonder where the other one went?

This one slept in a basement, for quite awhile.
Eddie Haskell stole it when no one was looking.
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,763
13,788
Humansville Missouri
Eddie Haskell stole it when no one was looking.
Actually, in the episode “The Pipe” it was Wally Cleaver that got blamed for smoking the meerschaum Mr Rutherford gave Ward.

Skip to 20:00 for the good parts.


Mr. Rutherford probably gave Ward a high grade, excellent quality meer, not a twin set of Mastercraft’s.
 
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