After 18years My First Meerchaum. A Revelation.

[grubscrew]

First of all Hi everyone this is my first post. Hope I'm doing it right.
Ok tiny ramble to get out the way. Smoked my first meerschaum today and it was fantastic. Been pipe smoking on and off for 18 years or so and about 10 years ago bought a meerschaum magic inch by accident/bad listing on ebay, so in disgust it got thrown in a box and forgotten about. Until this morning that is.
Standing looking at a rack of briars that need cleaning this morning. I'm left with the odd assortment of unsmokables in my opinion. Bit of Googling and i find if i slide a softy bit over the holes of that "magic inch" it might have a chance of smoking right since i don't have any of those paper sleeve things...who does?, but its still a meerschaum. oh well gave it a go.
Oh my! it smoked fantastic cool almost cold draw stayed lit from the first char full of flavor, I was speechless. So after some more reading thought I'd put it though it's paces and loaded it with my foulest goopiest aromo, which hasn't seen the light of day in many years. Well is stayed lit smoked way cooler than it ever did in any of my briars and i could finally tell what it was suppose to taste like.
So if this is the case call me a convert it's time to start over and get on the meerschaum band wagon! Is this experience indicative of meerschaum pipes generally I'm beginning to think it might be the more i read.
Also, has anyone had any experience of the falcon meerschaum bowls? Since this might be a cheaper way to test out my new discovery.

 

[mikethompson]

First off, welcome!
Secondly, yes Meerschaum pipes tend to smoke cooler than briars. There are pros and cons of course but those who like Meerschaum pipes like them a lot! Some have a screw in tenon for whatever reason, but I have one with the conventional push type and its great.

 

[cortezattic]

Welcome to the forums! :clap:
There's a lot to comment on here, but I'll just opine the view that Falcon meerschaum bowls aren't particularly inexpensive -- for what they are. I expect they would perform like any other meer, but I have reservations about Falcon pipes in general owing to all the metalwork and restricted draft bore.
Personally, I would go for a first class "standard" meerschaum pipe, which surely would not disappoint. Pricey? Yes. But you only need one to provide a lifetime of service (and you'll need a lifetime of smoking to fully color it!)
Look into something like the pipe featured in Harris' thread.

 

[tobaccojoe]

This is good to hear. I've only smoked inferior, lower priced "scrap" Meerschaum pipes and, while they did smoke really well, were very delicate and didn't last long. I'll be looking for a high quality one in the near future. Thanks for the post, grubscrew.

 

[midwestpipesmoker70]

Welcome to the forum. I have always leaned towards briar but I have a couple of meerschaums. On of them smokes pretty well and I will smoke many new blends in it to really get a feel for the blends flavor profile. Again, welcome and I am sure you will get tons of advice and information here.

 

[grubscrew]

Hello all,
Thanks for the warm welcome and interest in my ramble and your advice.
Cortez that imp is stunning on the first page you linked me to, right up my street, thanks! enjoying the meerschaummarket web page as we speak.
Joe after reading a bit i guess this Carey of mine is pressed Meerschaum powder. So also in the scrap end of the market and on that note here is a photo of it in all its Frankenstein glory!
It was all rough and knobbly on the top when i got it with a chip so i took it to the grinding wheel and removed the offending blemish... And a tad more.
If i've worked out how to upload a photo correctly please note the softy bit covering the slotted magic inch holes :roll:

 

[tobaccojoe]

That's a pretty nice looking pipe. I can understand the draw to it. Thanks for sharing!

 

[mikethompson]

Nothing wrong at all with pressed meers IMHO

 

[perdurabo]

I love my meerschaum. Best pipe I own, except for those other meerschaums. Missouri Meerschaum. Pick up some of those guys if you don't have one. An essential tool.

 

[grubscrew]

Strange. I've always seen it as a bit of an ugly beast, but since I now know it smokes well, I'm looking at it with different eyes and beginning to see its charm. Functionally practical though it may be.
It has always surprised me how eventually we are drawn to pipes and their shapes we dismissed over the years as not being for us. yes small collection of OOM Paul's i'm looking at you!
Plus the whole Meerschaum thing, will potentially open up new pipe smoking acquisition opportunities :roll: Already hitting the research pretty hard on the pros and cons Mike on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

 

[9mmpuffer]

Meerschaum + 9mm Filter = Smoking Heaven!

 

[Civil War]

Welcome to the White Goddess!! She is a seductive mistress.

 

[64alex]

If you like Meerschaum you should try clay pipes, particularly the double walled ones which fix the overheating issue of the tavern styles ones. You will be amazed by them too, they might be even drier than the Meerschaum.

 

[grubscrew]

Ah, the white goddess. Excellent turn of phrase :lol:
OK for those in the cheap seats like myself at the mo...I have ordered a MM cob, Double filled job with 6 mm filter...If I'm honest though can't see the filter ever going in it...but who knows, maybe? A block meerschaum bowl for my falcons... sorry Cortex. Always really got on well with falcons system, for me they're a great no nonsense smoke. Also an estate peterson, after reading a bit more it seems they are African meerschaum (a very different affair to Turkish so much as I can tell) but I thought I should try all avenues. Plus it was rather affordable. Kind of new tin of tobacco or the pipe ballpark
But a quality meerschaum will take a little more research and is on the cards since I have gained a few brownie points with the wife's last birthday present and we are currently discussing mine :lol: so if anybody has any more suggestions after IMP on the Turkish front please let me know.
oh and these double walled clay chaps! This is something I've never come across its made for some interesting reading is lepeltier the only maker? And very cheap too.
Cheers guys

 

[grubscrew]

Quick mention if you're into youtube canerodpiper has some video up of the NY pipe show from this weekend of the IMP stand there loaded down with rather fetching meerschaums about 9 minutes into the video

 

[aldecaker]

Neat pipe; I see how the looks could grow on you. I'm sure that meerschaum having great smoking qualities helps, but can you tell me about the draft? It must be pretty open in the middle for the paper insert, but what is the diameter like at the bowl and the button?

 

[grubscrew]

Well for starters it's unsmokeable without covering up those magic inch slots you're just drawing fresh air through them into the stem. Which is why the softy bit is on there to cover them. Since I've only seen the papyrus sleeves for sale direct from E A Carey and I only own this one magic inch I've never bought any so can't tell you how it smokes when using it properly. Saying that the draw is very open even with the slots covered. Packing the tobacco a little firmer than normal sorted that out and she stayed lit from the first char all the way down to white ash with some squadron leader
The bowl has a 19mm diameter and 31mm depth but as I say it started life about 5-8mm deeper because I removed the chipped rusticated rim on the grinding wheel. Which also explains why the bowl looks a little off centre in the rim.
The stem is a little loose and unlike briar doesn't seem to tighten as you smoke. She weighs 51gms when she's dried out. I'll let you know later what she weighs after another bowl. But there was never any gurgle even from the goopy aromo I tried in it yesterday.
It's a real shame she's been in a box for ten years. Certainly going to try and make up for that now though

 

[pappymac]

I have 10 Meerschaums. None of them or magic inch or take filters. Only two of them don't get smoked because they were rescued from junk shops for $10 & $20 and only after smoking them one time did the bowls develop cracks. Last week I found one for $40 that had been lightly smoked (the bottom of the bowl was still white). It had the screw in tenon that was screwed into the stem too tightly and broke apart because it was so brittle. I replaced it with a different stem that was the same size and shape and used a push pull tenon. It smokes great.

 

[64alex]

[oh and these double walled clay chaps! This is something I've never come across its made for some interesting reading is lepeltier the only maker? And very cheap too.]
I don't want to steal the topic of the discussion away from the original intention, but just to answer the question, Lepeltier is the only one I am aware producing in the USA. There are some additional in Europe. I have a Lepeltier and it is the one I use 90% of the time in terms of quality of smoking way better than any briar. They are also pretty cheap, just a little more expensive than the traditional tavern style ones.

 

[grubscrew]

Morning all,
Just a follow up as my Meerschaum adventures continue.
I've noticed that the oils and tars etc seem to build up quicker and travel more into the stem on this Carey's pipe. After three bowls the third of which was so sour the pipe was emptied and laid up for a clean and boy did it need it. The stem was thick six pipe cleaners and many cotton buds later, then a soak in hottish water it's clean again.
But it's really not worth the effort so i'll find a donor stem before it's smoked again. The magic inch stem is a terrible design for knooks and cranies for smoke to condense and quickly sour the stem.
But also the Meerschaum bowl and shank has stayed kind of tacky between smokes the 'cake' if that's the right word here isn't dry. So yes I'm afraid before asking advice i took a pipe cleaner and some whiskey to it and it is filthy after only three smokes! the gunk is slowly coming off bit by bit.
I've read up now and many people reckon just hot water is fine. but my question is how much? can i fill the bowl to soak it to soften up the tacky black inside.
all advice greatly appicated