Do Meerschaum wear out?

[birko]

Just starting to collect a few old meers and was wondering whether they become unsmokable at some point. I am thinking along the lines of clays which lose their ability to absorb moisture once all the tobacco tars and oils completely soak into the clay and block all the pores.
Of course this mostly concerns old estates which are deeply coloured from use.
Birko

 

[wyfbane]

No. If you take care of them, they will last 150 years. Do not push a pipe cleaner through the stem too hard into the bowl, though. I have seen people gradually wear a hole in the bowl doing that. THAT will wear out your meer.

 

[blueeyedogre]

I have a couple meers over a hundred years old. Still going strong.

 

[weezell]

135 years old and still smokes like a dream...

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

Nope... Meerschaum pipes can take a lot of abuse. You can smoke them daily and they'll keep going strong.

If you had a Meerschaum pipe that is fully colored, and were to break it or chip the pipe the inside of the pipe would be pure white still.

 

[wyfbane]

Weezell, You made me drool a bit with that pipe pic. Gorgeous!

 

[shutterbugg]

My oldest pipe is a meer bulldog my dad got at the outset of WWII. I had the amber stem replaced (it cracked in half) with acrylic (apparently they stopped using amber at the time because of its flammability, at least that's what I was told) back in the early 70s, but otherwise it's still good as new. I also have a carved meer I bought around 1973, also still a fine smoker. Other nice meers are the Amboselis. Not long ago I picked up a couple NOS. They're black, look like rusticated briars. Obviously they don't color like the white ones, but they smoke great.

 

[weezell]

Weezell, You made me drool a bit with that pipe pic. Gorgeous!

Me likey me meers :wink: ...

 

[Sinan Altinok]

If the question really means about the meerschaum itself, my answer would be definitely no because meerschaum is sort of a mineral which is produced in thousands of years. It can wait a few more hundred years to wear out, I believe

 

[gnesiohamartolos]

blueeyedogre and Sinan Altinok are right. Meerschaum pipes perform superbly over a century after being carved. I have a golf (short straight shanked bulldog) with a Gorham sterling shank collar hallmarked 1863 to 1890. Another is an Austro-Hungarian Ulmer fantasy that is similar in design to a pipe in the Amsterdam Pipe Museum (Pijpenkabinet), catalog number 21.401, probably carved in Austria between 1840 and 1860. I have at least four other pipes made well over a century ago that need stems and not yet ready to be smoked but all are structurally sound. As I write this I am smoking a bent billiard by D. P. Ehrlich, ca. 1968. I expect all these pipes will eventually have to get new stems. Hopefully, the meerschaum stummels will be performing for my grandsons and great-grandsons well after I have departed this life and bequeathed my collection to them. Meerschaum can withstand heat of over 500 degrees F but they will crack if dropped and can be easily damaged by careless carbon cake removal. It is called the "White Goddess" with good reason. Treat meerschaum pipes lovingly and carefully.

 

[toobfreak]

Birko, I've never seen a meer wear out from use yet, if anything, they seem to get better with age, but if you manage to ever do so, I think you get half off on the replacement just out of respect! :mrgreen: One thing you can do is if pushing the cleaner through any curves or bends like down at the bowl, you can put a little crook in the cleaner tip so that when it hits, it wants to follow the curve instead of plowing straight into the meerschaum and digging.

 

[lightmybriar]

Sorry to be off topic but weezell's picture is incredible. What a beauty!

 

[bryguysc]

I still need to pick up a meer.

That pic Weezell posted is a beauty!