Last week I got my first meer and began the process of learning about it. In simplified terms, my palate thus far seems to think that the meer generally "separates" the flavors while my briars seem to "blend" them together more. Am I way off base with this, or is it a generality that others have found?
Differences
- Thread starter FLDRD
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Your palate is your palate and if the above is your reality ... go with it. If you believe the "flavors" are more distinct in a meer then, the flavors are indeed more "separate."
I think the smoke from a Meer is thin compared to a broken in briar that has a nice cake and the pipe has been dedicated to either genres or specific blends.
I have a nice IMP Meer and it pretty much sucks compared to my briars. That is my experience, others love their Meers.
I have a nice IMP Meer and it pretty much sucks compared to my briars. That is my experience, others love their Meers.
I don't find any significant differences. Perhaps Meers are slightly more neutral. Once they're broken in, you're smoking on the layer of cake that's built up, not sure what magic one would expect from the vessel the cake is surrounded by. What, you think the briar or Meer has some inexhaustible supply of "juice" they exude that flavors the tobacco?
Yes I’ve found similar. The cake on a briar will imbue flavours of previously smoked bowls that can serve to meld or smooth out bolder smokes and enhance subtler blends like a Virginia flake. The meer does have a clear flavour that can seem to brighten up blends.
meers do seem to do something to the flavor, however the funny part is I find different briars I have could be explained the same way.
Ha ha, this always happens to me. I put a meer in my shopping cart at smoking pipes, and then I read a thread like this where those who like meers like them for reasons that I think I would hate them, and people who hate them make a lot of sense to me. Now, I am off to change my order, ha ha.
Other than the aesthetics of the material, I notice no difference between meer and briar.
oh try one and make up your own opinion. I personally find them versus briar to be a I prefer briar but meer is neat sometimes and with some blends.
Briar vs meerschaum, pre-war vs post war, straight grain vs bird’s-eye, blast vs smooth and etc., etc., etc.; it’s all magical thinking.
If the magic works then perhaps it’s best not to examine it too closely.
If the magic works then perhaps it’s best not to examine it too closely.
Nope, I just cut the line. I think that they're pretty when they color up. But, the more I think about it, it's the aroma of briar that keeps me smoking pipes.
I love that you never notice any differences in things. That's so Captain!
I spent too many decades and too much money chasing that idea only to be let down.
that's so weird about him. Yet I half agree. The difference isn't mind bending or world shaking.Nope, I just cut the line. I think that they're pretty when they color up. But, the more I think about it, it's the aroma of briar that keeps me smoking pipes.
I love that you never notice any differences in things. That's so Captain!
"Thin", I might understand that a bit, it could be similar to the "separating" I think I notice. But it definitely does not suck to my palate; simply good in a different way.
Maybe you weren't referring to the meer, but I've read that a cake is to be avoided in one and that's how I intend on using mine. I'm slowly developing a thin cake in some of my briars but I tend to keep them fairly cleaned out at the moment.
Well, my favorite blends certainly respond differently in different briars, but the overall "separate" component I've only sensed in the meer thus far. But I'm early in the overall journey.
Well I have certainly enjoyed both enough that I quickly acquired a 2nd meer. Yet to smoke it but it's there.
I'm relatively new to pipe smoking, but in my experience a clay pipe makes the tobacco flavors "brighter" and a briar makes them "warmer." By "brighter" I mean the flavors are more separate and more forward. By "warmer" I mean smoother and more mixed. This is of course very subjective and YMMV. I wonder if meerschaums would be similar. It's also possible that as my palate develops perceptions could change.
I find that meers don't deliver the flavors to my palate as well as briars. But, I do have a palate that is sadly lacking in the ability to pick up flavor nuances.
I also hate the fact that meers turn a shit brown after so much use. I happen to like a nice white meer, not one that looks like I took a dump on it.