Dad’s Meerschaum

[1man2beat]

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

 

[jhowell]

Ouch, probably not... You might want to check with Rich at Briarville.

 

[1man2beat]

Ouch, probably not... You might want to check with Rich at Briarville.

Thank you for your response.
I surmise I had the pipe too hot and could be a possibility that the pipe is very old?

 

[alaskanpiper]

Were you smoking the cold?

 

[Simmerdown☕️]

That’s a damn shame. If the crack hasn’t influenced into the shank I think that it can be repaired. Send the pics to Rich @ Briarville and see what he says. ?️

 

[1man2beat]

That’s a damn shame. If the crack hasn’t influenced into the shank I think that it can be repaired. Send the pics to Rich @ Briarville and see what he says. ?️

Thank you!

 

[1man2beat]

Were you smoking the cold?

Well........ that might be a possibility. I was in the vehicle overnight. However, I waited for everything to warm up.

 

[alaskanpiper]

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]

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]

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.

 

[mikethompson]

Ouch!

Take it as a learning experience, like anything else.

 

[Grangerous]

Looks like Sean Connery that pipe. Hope you can fix it.

 

[jhowell]

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]

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.