Don't Fear the Meer

[rmbittner]

I've only owned two meerschaum pipes in my life. The first one was a beautiful, large Bacchus shape that I ended up selling to help pay for a honeymoon years ago. I was always very careful about it -- taking care not to touch the bowl while smoking it, blowing smoke across the exterior to induce coloring, etc. But because I thought it required special handling, I just didn't turn to it very often.
I've decided to do things differently with my current meerschaum. No gloves. No worries about touching the bowl and potentially affecting its ability to color. I'm just going to smoke it as I would a briar. I have a feeling that I'm going to enjoy it much more than if I fretted about it like it was a piece of pampered art.
Sure, it may not color evenly. I may be sacrificing some potential "beauty" in the long run. But I guarantee you I'm going to be smoking it -- and enjoying it -- much more than I did my Bacchus. And that seems like a fair trade-off.
Bob

 

[ithelouniverse]

I love the well colored meers.
Uneven coloring looks better to me. All my guitars and mandolins have their own wear and fade and coloring patterns and they look cooler that way, in my personal opinion.
I want a meer sitter, Cullen Bohannon spends most of the recent season of Hell on Wheel puffing on one looking like a complete badass.

 

[mso489]

I only fear the Meer because I don't want to get off and running with another "collection." I have

enough briar to last me to the age of 120, and there are at least three pipes I am giving up buying

for lent. Looking forward to Easter ... such a joyous time.

 

[apatim]

I'm a rookie pipe smoker... tell me about Meershaums. I would have thought they'd be super expensive but I just found the site AND Meerschaum Pipes and see that they are very reasonable.
How is their smokability (is that a word) different from briars? (Not that I know what briars are like, either, as I've only smoked cobs to date but expect my first two briars to arrive via UPS on Friday - I'm psyched!)

 

[wcannoy]

I've decided to do things differently with my current meerschaum. No gloves. No worries about touching the bowl and potentially affecting its ability to color. I'm just going to smoke it as I would a briar. I have a feeling that I'm going to enjoy it much more than if I fretted about it like it was a piece of pampered art.

Good for you! That's exactly how I feel!

 

[voorhees]

I bought my first real meer over a year ago. I smoke it about once a week. I don't use a glove or a soft towel to hold it. It is coloring fine for me and I love it. I did put bees wax on it to make it color faster(supposedly).

See the link on meers and my personal one.
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/lee-van-cleef-is-in-the-house

 

[mrdottle]

I have three meers: a CAO Bacchus (God of Wine) meer (probably similar to your former Bacchus) as well as a Sherlock Holmes and a U.S. Civil War Sergeant. Well, the latter looks like a stereotypical Civil War sergeant: ruff, gruff and burly (no pun intended) with a beard and foraging cap but I have yet to determine if he fought for the Union or the Confederate States.
Early on I read that some smokers treated and handled meers differently than briars even to the point of using beeswax and wearing white cotton gloves when smoking them. Balderdash! What fun is this? I gave little thought to giving them this special care; I have always smoked and handled them as if they were briars. I firmly believe they should be smoked just like briars. Meers won’t smoke any better than briars with that extra special care. But this is just ‘meer’ conjecture on my part.

 

[saint007]

If the pipe has been doubled dipped in bees wax and the quality of the block is superior (Grade 6), then by all means, smoke it like a briar. I have one meer that I like to put a little bees wax on my finger tips and rub on the pipe as I smoke it. Not that it is necessary but, I just like doing it especially with a smooth meer.

 

[phil67]

Just don't see the sense in treating a meer with kid gloves. If I felt obliged to do so then it would not be a relaxing smoke, which a pipe should always be, and I'd never smoke the damn thing. However, when I do smoke my meer(s) I never do so with dirty hands and that's the only 'special' treatment I give mine.

 

[rmbittner]

apatim:
I just have time for a quick response. Others'll fill in the gaps, I'm sure.
In general: With a meerschaum, you don't have to go through any breaking-in process. They smoke well straight out of the gate. You don't build up a cake in a meer either; doing so would threaten to crack the bowl. So after running a pipe cleaner through the stem/shank, I just fold it up and wipe out the inside of the bowl. They're incredible porous, so a wetter tobacco might work better in a meer than a briar. . . and the moisture will just help to color the meer over time. Meers also don't need the resting time that benefits briar; I think you could safely smoke a meer every day and never have to worry about "souring" your pipe.
The only real care they require, IMO, is with regard to the stem/shank. Meers either have a plastic push/pull tenon or a screw-in tenon. I prefer the former; a screw-in tenon can be overturned, stripped, and end up resulting in a stem that is no longer tight/secure at the correct smoking angle.
Finally, you can drop a briar and not break it. Meerschaum is more fragile in that regard. I keep mine in its little lined case whenever I'm not smoking it.
Bob

 

[layinpipe]

I don't get the whole gloves and holding by the stem thing with meerschaums. Why even buy a pipe if you aren't going to fully enjoy it without holding it a certain way and being worried about getting it dirty from bare hands? To each his own, but i think that's taking it a bit too serious, and that is the exact opposite of why i got into pipe smoking.

 

[apatim]

Thanks much for the quick info, Bob. Looks like a Meerschaum is going on my "to buy" list.

 

[rmbittner]

After I wrote that reply, apatim, I had to ask myself, "Well, then, why aren't meerschaums more popular? They seem to be the perfect pipe!"
I think there are a couple of reasons. Despite our common-sense approach here, historically meers have been treated with much greater "care" than briars (and certainly cobs). A lot of us were brought up to believe that you really DID have to hold them with a glove or risk them not coloring well. And "coloring well" was almost the whole point of smoking a meerschaum in the first place.
But coloring aside, meerschaum can be easily marred. You can't just toss them on the seat of your car or drop them in a pocket and expect them to survive unscathed. You can easily scratch a meer with a fingernail. So they tend not to get smoked "out" much; they tend to be much more an at-home pipe.
High-quality block meerschaum isn't cheap, either. If you find a "basket" meerschaum, chances are it's going to be pressed meerschaum or something that's going to be a real pain to smoke. So the "cost of entry" is higher for a meerschaum, I think.
Finally, they're not always easy to buy. Some shops do stock a small handful of meerschaums, but briar is still going to be much more easily available. (I ordered mine directly from Turkey, via an eBay shop, and it took more than a month to arrive. Not everyone wants to put up with that kind of arrangement.)
Still, I think I need to think seriously about adding more meers to my own collection.
Bob

 

[rmbittner]

layinpipe wrote:
"I don't get the whole gloves and holding by the stem thing with meerschaums. Why even buy a pipe if you aren't going to fully enjoy it without holding it a certain way and being worried about getting it dirty from bare hands?"
"Dirt" isn't the issue. The issue is that your warm hands will rub away the beeswax coating the exterior of the bowl -- and its the beeswax seeping into the warm bowl as you smoke that helps the meerschaum to color evenly and (relatively) faster than it would otherwise. And for people who love the look of a well-smoked, well-colored nut-brown meerschaum, smoking it is only part of what it means to "fully enjoy it." The other part is seeing that that coloring happens in the best way possible. (I'm sure there are meerschaum purists who would sniff at anyone who doesn't have a properly colored pipe.)
Bob

 

[jah76]

I have yet to buy a nice turkish stone meer, however my African one I don't mind smoking around the yard. I don't hesitate to set it on the picnic table or potting table.

 

[topd]

Most of the comments above are true about Turkish Meerschaum. I smoke and handle mine just as you would a cob or brier, except I insure my hands are dry and clean. Dirty, oily hands will stain a pipe. Blowing smoke on the outside of the bowl will do nothing to speed-up the coloring process at all. I may choose a pipe and smoke it all day and not rest it until it seems to be getting heavy. Then it's time to rest it for a while and let the wax do it's thing, drawing in the tars from inside the bowl. (The extra weight is from the moisture in the pores, you can actually feel it). I don't close mine away inside it's protective case until it's dry...

You don't need to 'baby' a meer, but they do need to be handled carefully as they will chip, dent or break more easily than a brier. I do have a few that I only smoke in my lounge chair though.
These are some of my pipes:
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/my-meerschaums

 

[wcannoy]

This is my shop meer. It gets smoked every time I'm working. It doesn't have a case, and gets put down on nearly any surface handy. Other than making a conscious effort not to drop it, it doesn't get special treatment. It doesn't get handled with gloves, kid or otherwise, and I have often had to wipe smudges off of the bowl from my dirty hands.
I own my pipes. My pipes do not own me! :D

 

[instymp]

TopD, all beautiful but you have the prettiest Mermaid I have seen. Love to see the Meer photos coming back. Wish mine were as nice.(One)

 

[saint007]

Very nice collection Top D!
I don't have all of my meers on photobucket but, this is one I got at Christmas.

And, my NFL Saints prototype(unsmoked) from Meer Queen. Have the final one coming soon.

This is another pipe one the way from Meer Queen; meerschaumstore.com


And finally, one I haven't purchased yet and can't get it out of my head, a Double Dragon.

 

[brian64]

I smoke and handle mine just as you would a cob or brier, except I insure my hands are dry and clean.

+1

I would have thought they'd be super expensive but I just found the site AND Meerschaum Pipes and see that they are very reasonable.

Just my two cents: I purchased a meer from AND several years ago, and unfortunately I can’t recommend it. Others may have had a better experience with them, but mine smokes very hot and is also much heavier than it should be imo. Their prices are very reasonable, but I have not smoked mine for a long time now since acquiring a few higher quality meers.
I would second saint007’s recommendation of http://meerschaumstore.com/
I’d also suggest taking a look at these...a bit pricy but worth every penny imo:
http://bestmeerschaums.homestead.com/bakipipes.html