Do Differences in Meershaum Pipes Quality Exist ad/or Matter?

[phdaemon]

I have 3 meers, 2 IMPs and 1 AKB. Both seem to be decent enough.

I see a lot of Facebook posts about meers directly from Turkey, but I don't know enough about the manufacturing to know whether these are quality pipes or not, and the pictures are generally of poor quality (e.g. just a pile of pipes) so I stay clear of those.

@burleybreath I had never heard of SMS until just now.

 

[PipeIT]

Interesting. I searched the thread but found that no one mentioned that there's supposedly one grade of meerschaum that kinda sort-a stands above the rest and usually gets a higher price. However, the only place I've seen them listed is Altinay and he calls them "translucent Meerschaum". Supposedly the grain is slightly different on these and they fill out faster. The prices I've seen on them compared to other meers are ridiculous though...the patterns are equally ridiculous.

Did you read what I posted on page 3? Some info I found posted a few years back on grades.

 

[phdaemon]

Did you read what I posted on page 3? Some info I found posted a few years back on grades.

The stuff about stems or the reply from Altinay? Cause I was explicitly talking about the term Translucent.

 

[PipeIT]

The stuff about stems or the reply from Altinay? Cause I was explicitly talking about the term Translucent.

Since you brought up grading, I was referring more to the ‘Meerschaum Grading’ section.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Since you brought up grading, I was referring more to the ‘Meerschaum Grading’ section.

I still need to see if one of my favorite carvers can get ahold of a blue, pink, or green block.

 

[PipeIT]

I didn’t know meerschaum from the ground came in different colors.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I didn’t know meerschaum from the ground came in different colors.

 

[phdaemon]

View attachment 171742View attachment 171743

That is crazy looking

 

[phdaemon]

Since you brought up grading, I was referring more to the ‘Meerschaum Grading’ section.

Yeah, I was specifically talking about the one grade he names Translucent. But I haven't done the research on the different grades of meer since I'm not a huge meer collector. Just did cursory lookups and that grade, the Translucent, came up as one of the higher end ones.

Good info on your post about all the grades though.

 

[PipeIT]

That is crazy looking

Yeah, now I’m all excited to get a cool looking Meer in some nice colors, I never knew existed... LOL

 

[Chasing Embers]

Yeah, now I’m all excited to get a cool looking Meer in some nice colors, I never knew existed... LOL

Good luck. If it's not very close to pure white, it's thrown out when mined. Some meerschaum veins even have asbestos.

 

[phdaemon]

Good luck. If it's not very close to pure white, it's thrown out when mined. Some meerschaum veins even have asbestos.

That's wack. How are they testing for this when they make pipes?

 

[Chasing Embers]

That's wack. How are they testing for this when they make pipes?

The application of methyl orange will turn meerschaum purple.

 

[phdaemon]

The application of methyl orange will turn meerschaum purple.

That's good but if the vein is inside the meer block, then how could they possibly test the inside of the block? Would there ever be a chance, given a pipe big enough, that there's a vein of asbestos inside the meer block and no one would ever know?

 

[Chasing Embers]

That's good but if the vein is inside the meer block, then how could they possibly test the inside of the block? Would there ever be a chance, given a pipe big enough, that there's a vein of asbestos inside the meer block and no one would ever know?

They did used to make asbestos pipes.

 

[phdaemon]

They did used to make asbestos pipes.

View attachment 171778

Yes, I know they did, but they stopped when they found out the bad health effects of asbestos. So that's why I brought up my question. You said that sometimes they find asbestos veins in meerschaum. Seems like if that's the case then there is a chance that some small veins could go unnoticed, given a big enough pipe and a small enough vein... unless the QC is extremely on point and has redundancies to prevent this... but something tells me this may not be the case for all manufacturers.

 

[Chasing Embers]

they stopped when they found out the bad health effects of asbestos.

It's only dangerous when fibrous or powder.

 

[phdaemon]

It's only dangerous when fibrous or powder.

Sure, erosion never happens. That's why they're still putting it in paint.

 

[coys]

Had no idea there was such variation in meer colors! Really interesting reading.

 

[didimauw]

I have 3 meers, 2 IMPs and 1 AKB. Both seem to be decent enough.

I see a lot of Facebook posts about meers directly from Turkey, but I don't know enough about the manufacturing to know whether these are quality pipes or not, and the pictures are generally of poor quality (e.g. just a pile of pipes) so I stay clear of those.

@burleybreath I had never heard of SMS until just now.

Sms has to be my favorite pipes by far. You can get really great smokers for under 100 dollars.