Thanks man. I just got lucky with the piece of meerschaum. Only 700 bowls or so have been smoked through the pipe.
Golden Age of Signed Meerschaums?
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Not really sure what's the big deal with meer. Only having one meer to smoke, but it's pretty sterile to me as far as smoke coming from it. I don't get the warm feeling like briar, nor the sweet corn note like the cob. I guess I prefer something to be there on top of the tobacco.
I like the smell of warm meer and beeswax
It just takes longer to break them in. Once they are though you get the same effect. Most of my briar pipes have fallen into disuse in favor of meerschaum.
The man who looked like Charlie Rich in Springfield Missouri did in fact sell lots of $200-300 meers because of his silver haired looks and impeccable manners and most importantly, the location next door to an exclusive beauty salon.
He was so successful CAO sent Ismet Beckler to his store.
Every one of his customers wore a wedding ring worth several Becklers, and the parking lot was filled with high dollar cars.
I doubt many have reached the secondary market.
He wasn’t selling pipes, he was selling bragging rights to the matrons next door how much they loved their men.
Human nature will never change.
The baubles and trinkets and trophies of life are constantly changing.
Charlie Rich was a sex symbol when the ladies were younger.
The supply of the best meerschaum is now much more than demand. The carvers still left have their pick.
But a master carved meerschaum will always be, as long as men smoke pipes, a valuable token.
For maybe ten years straight the Turkish lira has been incredibly battered by hard currencies like the Euro and Pound and Dollar. This means the carvers exchange their imported hard cash for lots of lira to buy things locally.
A new meer is a great bargain today.
This pipe would have been about the same price when the ladies drove their $25,000 cars worth $75,000 today to the beauty shop next to the Charlie Rich pipe seller.
But a master carved meerschaum will always be, as long as men smoke pipes, a valuable token.
For maybe ten years straight the Turkish lira has been incredibly battered by hard currencies like the Euro and Pound and Dollar. This means the carvers exchange their imported hard cash for lots of lira to buy things locally.
A new meer is a great bargain today.
This pipe would have been about the same price when the ladies drove their $25,000 cars worth $75,000 today to the beauty shop next to the Charlie Rich pipe seller.
Then he was price gouging. Even my gigantic pieces from master carvers never exceeded $300.
Well, I got my pipe yesterday. Think it's going to be a good smoker for me. Stem is comfortable and it smokes dry. Also I didn't notice at the time, but the pipe is made by Ali. All in all, I'm happy with it.
The salon next door was price gouging too.
“Charlie” didn’t sell any meers under $100 and that was about the tab at the salon for the full treatment and tip..
He had an absolutely monstrous “thousand dollar grade” Beckler he had out for display. He also had a CAO board with cut out meers showing the coloring process. Wonder where it wound up?
The cigar boom hurt his business.
Men would come in wanting $20 worth of cigars while he was selling meers to the ladies worth ten or more times as much.
And even then, the Turkish lira was a weak currency, and 35 years has only made it weaker.
Turkish lira - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
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