Meerschaum Pipe Care

[stanlaurel]

I have a new meerschaum which I intend to enjoying smoking on a regular basis.
I see this from the Antinok website under the heading of "meerschaum care":
"Do not touch the bowl with your hands when the pipe is warm. The softened wax may cling to your fingers and the pipe will color in blotches. However, some pipe smokers prefer Meerschaum for its smoking properties, rather than for its ability to change color. If the coloring is not of importance, then, of course the Meerschaum can be handled and smoked in the normal manner."
Now I'm as anal as the next guy when it comes to taking care of my pipes, but it this true? Am I supposed to smoke my new meerschaum with tweezers? What gives?

 

[jgriff]

Seriously, gentlemen used to wear gloves to smoke their meers. Unless you are really obsessed with trying to color it as fully and quickly as possible, then focus on the latter part of their advice - don't worry about. The patina that develops is cool but it's not the only reason to smoke a meer.
The one advice with a meer care that I'd focus is to run a cleaner through it and wipe out the bowl soon after a smoke and don't let a cake form.

 

[gnatjulio]

The one advice with a meer care that I'd focus is to run a cleaner through it and wipe out the bowl soon after a smoke and don't let a cake form.

-Amen
I handle my meers by the stem when not clenching. It's not too bad.

 

[jerry]

I've been smoking and collecting Meers since ... well, a long time I generally will avoid holding the bowl of a NEW meerschaum for the first 10 or 20 smokes, as the wax settles in. After that, no problem. I hold and smoke my meers just like any briar, they color just fine.

 

[warren]

I've been smoking meers daily for many years (50+). Coloring is not that important to me. I pretty much, keeping in mind the fragility of the mineral, handle them as I do my briars. The only rule I have in place is that meerschaums are for indoors, not out of doors. They are cleaned on Sundays and I only run a cleaner through at other times when they stop up a bit.
When new to meers I wore a cheap cotton glove or used a clean handkerchief when handling and waxed often. Over the years such treatment has lost its importance to me.

 

[cortezattic]

I just bought an SMS meer and for the first 10 or 15 smokes I handled it by the stem only. Now, after 40 or 50 smokes, some color is starting to develop, and despite my early precautions, it is developing color blotches that correspond to where my fingers land on the bowl. So I'm not going to any great lengths to protect it. I'm just going to enjoy the smoke.

Check out Fred Bass's articles: The Meerschaum Pipe Experience, Slave To The White Goddess, and The Thrill of the Hunt (A Guide to Estate Meerschaums).

 

[okiescout]

I purchased my first meer a couple of years ago, (actually the one in my avatar) I have always just held the ones I have bought in my hand like my briars. They have seemed to color down from the bowl and evenly. May have just been lucky. I did buy a used one a while back, a small turtle. He has started to color on his head and feet faintly. It is not an old pipe and was not smoked excessively.

Condor could probably elaborate in detail on this question.

 

[superjew]

My meerschaum pipes bleed out the bottom. How do I clean the tar?