Without regular and diligent cleaning, your wonderful new meerschaum
will become a soggy, ill-tasting mess, and will no longer provide you
with the smoking pleasure you desire. To eliminate such problems, you
need to embark on a regimen of regular cleaning and maintainance for
your meerschaums.
Materials Needed:
Tapered Pipe Cleaners
Bristle Pipe Cleaners
Regular or extra fluffy pipe cleaners
shank brush or cotton swab
pipe tool or pick
Concerning 'Coloring':
One of the joys of owning and smoking a meerschaum pipe is watching it
slowly change color, from a milky white to a dark brown. When you
first get a meerschaum pipe, be careful that your hands are clean as
you smoke it for the first few times. Meerschaum pipes are coated in
beeswax which aids in the coloring process and protects the brittle
meerschaum. As the pipe heats during smoking (and be careful not to
get it too hot) the beeswax melts. If your hands are dirty, the
beeswax will pick up that dirt. Though some suggest not touching the
bowl of a meerschaum pipe while smoking it, I think this is a little
extreme. Just take care that your hands are clean and dry.
A sample 'Coloring' regimen:
There are many different ways to go about coloring your meerschaum
pipe, but one of the simplest is as follows:
Smoke your meerschaum several times a day for about two weeks. Unlike
a briar pipe, meerschaums do not need long periods of rest between
smokes, and can safely be smoked multiple times in a day. Do, however,
allow the pipe to cool between bowls. After this two weeks, your
meerschaum should be noticeably heavier than when you began, owing to
the amount of tars and oils now trapped inside the meerschaum. Put
your meerschaum aside for a period of about one month. During this
time, the beeswax will wick the tars and oils towards the surface of
the pipe, coloring it in the process. Repeat and enjoy!
Before Smoking:
The care and cleaning of your pipe begins with your very first smoke,
and should continue forward from there. Before each smoke, run a pipe
cleaner, either bristle or regular, through the stem to dislodge any
leftover ash and dottle, and gently tap your pipe on a cork knocker or
the palm of your hand to remove these obstructions from the bowl. Be
especially careful when tapping a meerschaum pipe to hold it by the
shank, never by the stem!
While Smoking:
During a smoke is an excellent time to begin the process of caring for
your pipe. You can begin by paying careful attention when lighting
your pipe. Keep your flame source over the tobacco, so that it does
not char the rim of your pipe. Unlike a briar pipe, it is near
impossible to remove this rim charring from a meerschaum pipe, so it
pays to be extra careful in this department. During smoking is also
when you will notice if a more thorough cleaning is in order. If a
pipe begins to taste sour, salty, or just plain bad while smoking it,
it is probably time for a good cleaning. See Periodic Cleaning below.
After Smoking:
First, a warning: Always remove a stem from a meerschaum pipe by
twisting it gently clockwise while supporting the shank with your
fingers. At the end of each smoke, your pipe should be given a good
cleaning. Dump out the ash and dottle, and run a bristle pipe cleaner
around the inside of the bowl to remove any possible cake build-up.
Unlike a briar pipe, a meerschaum requires no cake, and in some
instances, a cake can be detrimental to a meerschaum, either slowing
the coloring process, or causing the pipe to crack. Clean out the stem
with a bristle pipe cleaner once, remove it, and either turn it around
or use another pipe cleaner, repeating this process until the pipe
cleaners come out clean. Moisten a pipe cleaner with saliva and rub
the mouthpiece with it to remove any buildup there. Blow gently
through the stem of the pipe to dislodge any leftover ash and wipe
your pipe down with a soft dry cloth. Place the pipe back on it's rack
or stand and allow it to cool.
Periodically:
You will want to, on occasion, give your pipes a more thorough
cleaning than just swabbing out the stem after smoking. Most smokers
do this fairly regularly, some going so far as to do so after all of
their pipes have been smoked once, thus providing themselves with a
fresh, clean rotation of pipes. You will have to experiment a bit with
how often you do this clenaing to find what works best for you. To
start this cleaning, carefully remove the stem of the pipe from the
bowl and lay the two pieces on a paper towel. Dip a regular pipe
cleaner in alchohol and run it through the stem, from the tenon to the
mouthpiece, pulling it through. It will most likely come out with a
bit of black or brown gunk on it. Follow this pipe cleaner with a dry
one, and repeat until the moist pipe cleaner comes out the same color
it was when it went in. Push one final dry pipe cleaner through to
remove any moisture and set the stem aside.
