Dad’s Meerschaum

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1man2beat

Lurker
Mar 1, 2021
5
2
My father gave me his pipe just over a month ago. I have smoked it a dozen times. The pipe had never been smoked before me. This morning I was smoking the pipe and it popped! I looked down I saw that it had cracked!
Can this be fixed? Thanks for your help
2FAFE73A-7984-4651-9886-314C9C187A53.jpeg
 

alaskanpiper

Enabler in Chief
May 23, 2019
9,348
42,224
Alaska
Well........ that might be a possibility. I was in the vehicle overnight. However, I waited for everything to warm up.
Meerschaum does not handle temperature change well. Could have had something to do with it, but who knows. Either way it's a bummer.

I only use mine in the summer unless I can control the environment (house to warm car, car to warm house, etc.) closely.
 

1man2beat

Lurker
Mar 1, 2021
5
2
Meerschaum does not handle temperature change well. Could have had something to do with it, but who knows. Either way it's a bummer.

I only use mine in the summer unless I can control the environment (house to warm car, car to warm house, etc.) closely.
Very inexperienced with the meerschaum pipe. Thanks for your help.
That is a tough lesson.
 

alaskanpiper

Enabler in Chief
May 23, 2019
9,348
42,224
Alaska
Very inexperienced with the meerschaum pipe. Thanks for your help.
That is a tough lesson.
Life is full of them. My hard (or rather brittle) lesson came from the fragility of amber stems. Bought an antique meer with a real amber stem. It was so brittle it snapped as I was simply unscrewing it from the tenon and it caught some friction in the screw tenon that was caked with goo. It had arrived at my home not 5 minutes earlier.

I looked like a kid who's ice cream scoop fell off the cone.
 
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jhowell

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 25, 2019
628
1,014
70
Phoenix, Arizona
Thank you for your response.
I surmise I had the pipe too hot and could be a possibility that the pipe is very old?
I suspect the crack was caused by the difference in thickness between the man's headdress and forehead causing uneven heating... No way to prove for sure
 

Ziggywm

Can't Leave
Sep 9, 2019
358
3,793
Fargo, ND
Does the crack penetrate to the tobacco chamber? If not you might look at laying your hands on a block of meerschaum. I recently saw some blocks for sale on the internet, but don't remember where - maybe Ebay. Someone here may know. They are for carve your own pipe aficionados. I would create some meerschaum dust. Using an instant glue in the crack I would work the meerschaum dust into the glue before it sets-up. I would use a slower setting instant glue. You should be able sand the surface with very fine sandpaper or micromesh like they use in making pens. Then you can work/polish some bees wax on the surface. Given that the pipe holds sentimental value for you being your father's, only you can determine if it's worth the effort, or a retirement in your pipe cabinet. The crack was probably from a temperature difference plus a flaw (small air pit) in the meerschaum. I have never cracked one or seen many so figure its rare.
 
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