Calabash Pipe Advice - Avoiding Broken Bowls

[coreycoogan]

I bought a vintage Calabash Gourd pipe a few months ago and love it. It is a Pioneer and came with a pressed meerschaum bowl, so I upgraded to a block bowl that I bought from here: http://meerschaumstore.com/proddetail.asp?prod=CA0016.
I smoke it once or twice a week, a little more when camping in the summer. This weekend I put some new tobacco in there that I didn't like after a couple puffs. When I went to shake the tobacco out a few minutes later I heard a rattling noise and discovered that the bowl had broke into 4 or 5 pieces. The bowl wasn't hot when I did this and I never clean or mess with the bowl. It has been sitting in the pipe since I got it 2.5 months ago.
It seems to me like the bowl must have been fractured or had some sort of flaw in it. The seller is going to replace it, but I want to know if this has ever happened to anyone else. Is there some care or maintenance I should be doing to make sure this doesn't happen again? I read many posts and articles on the topic before I got the pipe and thought you really didn't have to do much with a Calabash Gourd pipe.
Thanks for any advice,

Corye

 

[Chasing Embers]

Could have been smoked too hot, had an internal flaw, or may have been pressed meerschaum, and not block.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

The seller is going to replace it

That's good, at least.
These are the reasons I don't own pipes that need to be handled like artifacts. I get why people like them, but I would break every single one - I'm sure of it.

 

[pagan]

The seller is going to replace it

+1 for good customer service

 

[shutterbugg]

A bunch of years ago I bought a gourd calabash off fleabay. The gourd itself had no residue or odor, but when smoked it had a foul taste. So, follwing the advice of the local B&M guy I used the salt+alcohol treatment on it, and discovered to my horror the bowl developed a midline crack all the way through and was now in two halves. Figuring it was a lost-cause as a smoker, I resigned myself to using it as a display item and super-glued the bowl together. Years later I figured what the hell, the bowl was held tight by the cork, what did I have to lose by smoking it? Much to my surprise, after a few smokes I noticed I couldn't see the crack line anymore! I didn't know it was even possible but apparently it welded itself back together.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I've always heard not to put alcohol in meers, as it dissolves or softens the stone.

 

[warren]

Other than not dropping them on the asphalt or concrete I treat my meers no differently than a briar. The only real difference in treatment is that I do not smoke my meers out of doors except on my deck and only rarely there. I've used rum soaked cleaners when required in the stem and never had a problem. I'm not a restorer so I do not have to resort to "extreme" cleaning methods as my recently smoked pipes are fully cleaned every. . . all together now! . . . Sunday.

 

[coreycoogan]

Thanks for the advice, but I have failed to clarify that although I bought the pipe on ebay, I bought a block meerschaum bowl from a vendor in Turkey. Sometimes when I'm puffing away, the top of the bowl does get hot to the touch. Could that cause it to crack over a span of 2.5 months? I like to smoke without worrying about how I'm smoking and thought meerschaum would allow me to do that. I'm really just looking to explain with one of these 3 answers:
1. I'm doing something wrong

2. This bowl had a flaw

3. I got ripped off and the bowl wasn't block
Anybody familiar with http://meerschaumstore.com/proddetail.asp?prod=CA0016? I found this place being talked about in other posts around the web when people were asking where to replace their bowl.
Thanks again gang!

 

[tmb152]

Meerschaum is a hydrous mineral magnesium silicate compound and softens in water, so getting it wet, soaked through, might possibly relieve any internal stresses, make it more permeable to tars and other things from tobacco, and help re-cement any hairline stress flaws, just as wetting with super-glue might help heal breaks.
Since they soak the stuff in water to carve it, water per se should not harm it, but might help speed the absorption of any tobacco products already smoked. Never ream. If wet, dry fully before smoking again.
As to your bowl breaking, very odd that it should fracture like that if truly block meerschaum! As to getting hot, boy! You must have had a real bonfire to get a thick calabash-type bowl of meer "hot". That might have done it, along with maybe an unforeseen flaw in the original block which the heating brought to the surface.
Get a new bowl, break in more gently and perhaps learn to take it a little easier smoking?
And don't give up on calabash pipes! Real ones, that is.

 

[jeepnewbie]

Sudden temperature changes can really mess up a perfectly good meer. I never carry my meers camping.

 

[condorlover1]

Hence why I do not buy new meerschaums. For some reason the quality of the meerschaum from the 1890s plus a century of tar absorption seems to produce quite a tough pipe with the only failure points being threaded shanks and bakelite stems that some Ebay sellers swear up and down are really 'egg yoke' amber and other such nonsense. Granted if you don't keep the carbon build up in the bowl under control or you drop the pipe on a hard surface you are more than likely going on a one way trip to Briarville or Walker Pipes. As to calabash bowls I really can't say. I have only owned one Calabash pipe from 1908 which I gave to a chap who posts here and actually makes his own calabash pipes from hordes he grows. Generally I always found the bowl in these pipes to be very robust block meerschaum. The older ones are always a source of concern as plaster of paris and asbestos was often used in their fabrication.

 

[coreycoogan]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I really love my calabash and smoking anything else now is just not that great. I will pay more attention to my puffing to prevent the bowl from getting too hot and also try and more diligent about cleaning it out now and again. When the bowl broke, I could see the tar and other black material had made it's way all the way through. Here's a picture if it's worth anything.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Something to note, the bottom of a meer bowl in a calabash will soften after absorbing alot of tobacco oils and tars. To remedy this, remove the bowl from the gourd, turn it upside down on a fire safe surface, and hold a flame to the bottom of the bowl until it catches fire. Once the fire burns out and the bowl cools, the meer will be hard again and can be placed back into the gourd and smoked.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Cool, I've never heard that, Duane. It makes me want a calabash now. I love burning things.

 

[Chasing Embers]

:rofl: