'Estate" Meerschaum

[tomcatdad]

What IS the "Estate" in "estate Meerschaum"?

 

[ashdigger]

Welcome to the Forum. It means previously smoked. NOS = New Old Stock and that means something in new condition but older....,probably from some long closed shop.

 

[condorlover1]

Estate Meerschaum = old pipe from some long dead dude who isn't smoking anymore for obvious reasons.

 

[tomcatdad]

Thank you for the frank and helpful replies.

 

[warren]

Estate = used

 

[mso489]

Yeah, estate pipes aren't just from estates of the deceased, but are any pipe previously owned and smoked (unless old but unsmoked as noted in post above). Estate was a dignified way of saying "used," a good marketing ploy to evade the issue of someone else having used the pipe. Similar to the term "pre-owned" at car lots. I joke that many of the pipes I bought new are now estate pipes, throughly used. One-owner estate pipes. Several of the online retailers invite pipe smokers to send in their used pipes for cash or store credit, for resale. They do not require that you then promptly die. So an estate pipe is just a used pipe.