Hello all,i'm hoping some of you all might give some advice on meerschaum care, cleanig, waxing, and so on.i have two new meers on the way. never have owned one. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Meerschaum Advice
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meerschaum advice: buy one ... puff it. :
:
I read a bit on meers after I got one recently, and it's pretty easy caring for them, you just have to be gentle.
I've been using a moist q-tip on the chamber after each smoke. Meerschaum is easily scratched, so much so that you have to be careful with using bristled pipe cleaners, they're tough enough to scratch away at the meerschaum.
:I read a bit on meers after I got one recently, and it's pretty easy caring for them, you just have to be gentle.
I've been using a moist q-tip on the chamber after each smoke. Meerschaum is easily scratched, so much so that you have to be careful with using bristled pipe cleaners, they're tough enough to scratch away at the meerschaum.
Some fellas like to totally clean their brier pipes after every smoke... take them apart, Everclear, scrub
brushes, the works. I almost never disassemble my meerschaum's, only running a pipe cleaner or two down the
stem to the bowl. Then wiping out the inside with a doubled over pipe cleaner or twisting a napkin inside.
When a cake starts to form I use a dull knife blade to carefully scrape it out. I don't use any liquids cleaning
them. There's nothing wrong with using a damp napkin, it's just that I don't. It may delay the drying out
process in my mind.
I go with Fred on waxing.... the ones that I want to anyway, but it's not necessary/required.
(some of my pipes).
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/my-meerschaums
brushes, the works. I almost never disassemble my meerschaum's, only running a pipe cleaner or two down the
stem to the bowl. Then wiping out the inside with a doubled over pipe cleaner or twisting a napkin inside.
When a cake starts to form I use a dull knife blade to carefully scrape it out. I don't use any liquids cleaning
them. There's nothing wrong with using a damp napkin, it's just that I don't. It may delay the drying out
process in my mind.
I go with Fred on waxing.... the ones that I want to anyway, but it's not necessary/required.
(some of my pipes).
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/my-meerschaums
Ha! Thanks eaglerico. I've been thinking of making some new pic's... with groups, so there isn't so many photo's.
I think a lot of mythology has grown up around the care of meerschaum pipes. If you're absolutely obsessive about developing even coloring on the bowl, you should touch it as rarely as possible while the pipe is warm. (Yes, some people wear a white glove. . . but that's going to extremes, I think.) If coloring isn't that critical to you, treat it as you would a briar while smoking. It may not end up looking beautifully caramel/brown in ten years, but only you know how important that is to you.
As for the inside, I'd just recommend folding a pipe cleaner in half and using it to wipe once around the inside of the bowl to prevent any cake build-up, which can seriously damage a meerschaum. And then, of course, run a pipe cleaner through the stem and shank, as you would for any other pipe.
If your pipe has a screw-in tenon, be very careful about over-tightening it, which over time will put your stem out of alignment with the shank.
NEVER use any liquids to clean a meerschaum.
Those are the essentials, I think.
Bob
As for the inside, I'd just recommend folding a pipe cleaner in half and using it to wipe once around the inside of the bowl to prevent any cake build-up, which can seriously damage a meerschaum. And then, of course, run a pipe cleaner through the stem and shank, as you would for any other pipe.
If your pipe has a screw-in tenon, be very careful about over-tightening it, which over time will put your stem out of alignment with the shank.
NEVER use any liquids to clean a meerschaum.
Those are the essentials, I think.
Bob
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