Meeerschaum is a pretty amazing material. I like those traditional meers @bassbug and @joseph, but the Viking called my name, ha. I've used alcohol to clean the stem, but not the bowl. I'll have to remember not to. Speaking of cleaning, last time I did I noticed the threaded fitting on my cracked. Does anyone know a good place to get replacements? I was having trouble finding it at SP. Mine is an AKB if that matters.