Altering Missouri Meerschaums

[jazzlover]

I love altering my MM corn cobs. I replace the factory stems with bamboo stems. I give the cobs a coat of clear lacquer and I raise the bottom of the bowls using pipe mud. Who else does these nutty things?

 

[rangerearthpig]

I gave one of mine a couple coats of glossy midnight blue airbrush acrylic paint. Entirely different look.

 

[rmbittner]

jazzlover:
I agree: This is "nutty."
If you're giving your pipes a coat of clear lacquer, I'm afraid you're killing them and creating pipes that will smoke much hotter than they should. Pipes need to breathe; lacquer makes that impossible.
Bob

 

[ravkesef]

Gilding the lily.

 

[onepyrotec]

The most "I" do is take cheap ebay acrylic stems and open up the airways to smoke better. Any Bamboo & finish mods I have done for me by others. 8) I have kicked around the idea of doing it myself, but never got that far.

I agree: This is "nutty."
If you're giving your pipes a coat of clear lacquer, I'm afraid you're killing them and creating pipes that will smoke much hotter than they should. Pipes need to breathe; lacquer makes that impossible.
Bob

Missouri Meerschaum gives many of their pipes a lacquer finish. How would adding another coat of lacquer kill them?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRJj11M3B2I

 

[lucky695]

has anyone seen the cobsnob.com website. They do crazy stuff with MM's

 

[blueeyedogre]

I've colored some of my cobs, added a couple of "Forever Stems" to a few as well.

 

[virginiacob]

"I love altering my MM corn cobs. I replace the factory stems with bamboo stems."
If you like bamboo stems then we can certainly accommodate you with an Old Dominion cob pipe! Sorry, had to get that shameless plug in! On a serious note, whether it is an MM or one of our Old Dominion cob pipes, I prefer a natural cob. For me I like the textured feel of a natural cob and that it's lightweight (perfect for me when I have to clinch a pipe while driving). The laquered cobs are fine when I'm not driving and can hold the bowl and smoke them but are a little heavy for clinching (again, that's just my preference).

 

[mbaytek]

The most "I" do is take cheap ebay acrylic stems and open up the airways to smoke better. Any Bamboo & finish mods I have done for me by others. I have kicked around the idea of doing it myself, but never got that far.
I agree: This is "nutty."
If you're giving your pipes a coat of clear lacquer, I'm afraid you're killing them and creating pipes that will smoke much hotter than they should. Pipes need to breathe; lacquer makes that impossible.
Bob
Missouri Meerschaum gives many of their pipes a lacquer finish. How would adding another coat of lacquer kill them?

He is thinking of Briar. Some think that lacquer will make the pipe burn while others do not. Quite a few pipe makers use a very thin coat of lacquer to set the color.

 

[shortyeastcoast]

You guys need to post pics of all your cobmods.

 

[mike73]

What a great video. Thanks for sharing that!

 

[yaddy306]

I build up the bottom of the bowls with pipe mud (filling in those crevasses next to the stem insert) to make the bottom smooth.

 

[onepyrotec]

You guys need to post pics of all your cobmods.

These are what I have done. All I have done myself is drilled & opened up the airways of the acrylic stems. One of these days we will get creative 8)
Smoking Dragon cob

Santia Cobs. I always have him use bone extensions on the pipes he makes me.

Basic cobs with added bamboo shanks w/nickel bands on a few and ebay acrylic stems that have been drilled out & slots all opened up.

 

[shortyeastcoast]

Thank you @pyro, those are fantastic.

 

[rangerearthpig]

I wasn't really going for anything fancy. My reasons for altering my cobs were so that I could tell mine apart from my son's cobs. The first just has some glossy airbrush acrylic on the bowl and stem. The second one just has a little paint on the stem.

 

[jazzlover]

Onepyrotec: Those look great!

 

[jazzlover]

I tried to post pics of my altered cobs but I couldn't get it to work.

 

[winton]

I wanted a cob to use at the Chicago Pipe Show for trying new blends without ghosting. I took a hacksaw to my cob and cut the top 1/4" of the bowl off. Presto, a smaller pipe for smaller samples.
FYI, I tried a blend last year with deer tongue in it. 1/4" of tobacco was all I could force myself to smoke.
Winton

 

[virginiacob]

Winton,
Not a MM, but our latest model, the "Chesapeake", was inspired by folks wanting a tobacco testing pipe or "dessert" pipe. We modeled it off of our larger Old Dominion "Virginia Planter" cob pipe but it is sized down from a 5/8" dia. chamber to a 1/2" diameter chamber. We also shortened the height of the bowl by just shy of 3/8" of an inch from the VA Planter bowl. The bamboo stem was also made an inch shorter as well.

 

[mso489]

I am so attached to the natural cob texture, I likely wouldn't modify the bowl. However, I very much like

the three Forever stems from Walker Briars, two that fitted filtered pipes and did away with the filters, and

one that fit a non-filtered pipe. They look great and jazz up the pipes without changing their cob look.

I hope to catch up with Old Dominion at the TAPS pipe show to get (at least) one or two of the pipes with

bamboo stems, which will be a whole new cob experience. To have one filtered cob pipe, I have simply added

a softie to the bit of a filtered pipe, just to keep from chewing up the amber stem that came with the pipe.

But the glory of cobs, for me, is their straightforward cob look. It's like the Volkswagen bug coming over

to the U.S. in the midst of gas-guzzlers with tailfins, and remaking the vision of what a car looks like.

A cob is pure cob.