In Praise of Missouri Meerschaum

[El Capitán]

I burned up my very first 65 cent Missouri Meerschaum Legend in 1972 in just a few months. I was smoking too fast.

The challenge of making a good cob pipe has always been that dried corn cobs are so flammable they were good kindling to start fires.

The other farm use of cobs was toilet paper, seriously.

The smokers who can get a cob to cake are sloooow puffers.

Yeah, I probably smoke too fast. Might see if I can nab a MM pipe from before they marketed to the cannabis market.

 

[didimauw]

Is it sad that your caked up, dirty old used and abused cob pics always give me extreme joy? Such beauty to behold.

I guess only we would understand.

We need more people like us on this planet

Some of my most prized possessions

 

[Briar Lee]

We need more people like us on this planet

Some of my most prized possessions

About everything that ever evolved about a cob pipe was to make it last longer.

Tibbe got a commission to make a dozen cob pipes for a local man who already had, a taste for cob pipes.

The first improvement was Tibbe handed out rings to farmers and specified only white cobs that would not fit through the ring were what he’d buy.

Tibbe was a woodworker. He knew aging made the cobs harder.

And if you really want a cob tougher, plaster and lathe it and reinforce the bottom with a dowel.

But unless you sip one they’ll burn up like cobs used to light a fire in a stove.

 

[canucklehead]

 

[Briar Lee]

A good promotional on Missouri Meerschaum.

 

[dog_park_piper]

Tobacco, corn (& bourbon), and chocolate. Products of the America continents (New World)

 

[El Capitán]

Well it looks like NY search for a cob is for naught. My bank balance said no.

 

[Briar Lee]

Tobacco, corn (& bourbon), and chocolate. Products of the America continents (New World)

Don’t forget good coffee.

I’m researching my great grandfathers who rode for the Union armies.

The regular foot soldiers resented the cavalry and that was true on both sides.

By 1865 my people had magnificently well trained horses, the best saddles, Spencer repeating rifles, as many as four good revolvers, and saddlebags stuffed full of coffee and the best tobacco, cocoa, and sugar:

Entrance requirements were high.

Xxxxx

12th Missouri Cavalry Regiment (Union) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

The regiment lost a total of 263 men during its entire service; one officer and 35 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, and one officer and 226 enlisted men died of disease.

Xxxxx

Not counting disease the casualty rate was about three per cent.

You should have seen the other guys.

They gave those boys all the coffee, tobacco, cocoa and sugar a wealthy nation could.

 

[dog_park_piper]

Don’t forget good coffee.

…

They gave those boys all the coffee, tobacco, cocoa and sugar a wealthy nation could.

Yes, but coffee is not original to the Americas. Like grapes for wine, it comes from the Old World. Coffee originated in Ethiopia I believe.

 

[Briar Lee]

Yes, but coffee is not original to the Americas. Like grapes for wine, it comes from the Old World. Coffee originated in Ethiopia I believe.

Yes, somewhere in Africa.

Americans made coffee a staple luxury.

The same can be said about beer, bourbon, cocoa, tobacco and sugar, and the corn cob pipe.

Tibbe’s first cob pipes sold for the same nickel a two ounce sack of really good tobacco sold for.

During the Civil War each Union soldier was issued three pounds of coffee a month, the cavalry the best and pick of the quality:

Coffee and the Civil War Soldier

Coffee, a staple before the Civil War in most households, became a luxury, and a beverage soldiers craved. It was what bolstered and also refueled them,...

www.battlefields.org

Even today, the Chinese could make all the cob pipes they want, but their little cob pipes burn out in a week like my attempt did.