Meerschaum and Briar Quantity

[LOREN]

I was wondering how long the world's supply of meerschaum and briar is thought to last.

 

[Casual]

Supplies of any raw material are mostly governed by economic factors. For example, as demand goes up for a given quantity of supply, the price increases. This stimulates manufacturers to increase their production of that supply, I.e., to dedicate more resources to finding meerschaum or growing briar. So there is no static stock of each that simply runs out. It’s a dynamic system.

As for the stock of meerschaum in the ground, no one knows. Until the price of meerschaum goes high enough to warrant searching for deposits, we just only know what deposits are currently found and being used.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

I wouldn’t think that the pipe smoking population is big enough to put a big dent in the natural resources, but that’s just my assumption. I could be wrong. At least briar is renewable, albeit slowly renewable.

 

[mikethompson]

So you're saying I should buy some more pipes before the worlds briar supply runs out? I couldn't agree more, off to smoking pipes I go.

 

[mso489]

I'll echo the above posts that the decline in the number of pipe smokers has allowed the growth of briar to be more than restored. Tobacco pipes used to be a huge industry, hence all the gimmicks to sell pipes -- systems, stingers, in some cases soaring prices, and an infinity of designs. The question of Meerschaum relates to geology and where and how these deposits can be located. I doubt there is a shortage in the lifetime of anyone on Forums. I think a materials shortage is not an issue. My wife teases me about always finding new things to worry about; not this.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Several countries have meerschaum deposits, there's even one in the US. If we ran out of white heath burls, there's always the strawberry wood burls, morta, olive, etc. Sepiolite can also be artificially cultured.

 

[3rdguy]

We will run out of tobacco first due to our taxes, laws etc.

Buy accordingly.

 

[anotherbob]

I was wondering how long the world's supply of meerschaum and briar is thought to last.

from what I understand the supply of meerschaum far exceeds the amount that will ever be used. The stuff only really has value as a pipe making material and only based on the skill of the carver. The question from my understanding which could be way off is we have to worry about the supply of skilled carvers. Briar on the other hand I know even less about.

 

[Casual]

Reading these responses makes me think we ought to worry more about the supply of pipe smokers than pipes.

 

[warren]

Casual: Interesting and, I feel, a very good point!

 

[snoopy311]

It will certainly out live me.