I was pretty excited when I found out that I won the bid for $26.50 (with shipping) on this vintage Meerschaum Cutty pipe! It was advertised as a solid block meerschaum from Austria- 5 1/2 “ long with a 2 “ tall bowl.
It arrived in the mail today. I took it out and carefully examined my new meerschaum pipe. It seemed fairly clean and the stem was in amazingly good shape. No teeth marks or chatter, a nice nickel maybe Sterling band on the stumble And some coloring and patina. I was thinking, “I scored a great little pipe here”.
I decided to clean it up after dinner. The first thing that became evident was that the stem was not coming off. I have a fairly strong grip, and I could not get this stem to budge either by twisting it or trying to pull it straight back. Once I gave up on this, worrying that I might break the pipe all together, I got a pipe cleaner and tried to pass it through the stem. I could not get a pipe cleaner to go through the stem, so I tried to blow some air through the pipe. It was clearly plugged up.
Interestingly enough the coloring on the stummel seen as a dark 3/8 inch ring of coloring is exactly where the pipe cleaner stopped.
I had to sit down and think this one over. I finally decided to get a large heavy gauge paperclip and straighten it out. I took the pipe to the sink and ran some hot water down into the bowl and stem while gently pushing the paperclip straight forward. It took several attempts, but I finally broke through the blockage. After that, I got a scrub brush I use for cleaning pipes and began to scrub out the stem and stummel while running hot water through it.
it was amazing the amount of black gunk and old particles of tobacco that came out of that pipe. It took quite a while to get it cleaned, but in the end it’s ready to smoke!
I’m still frustrated about not being able to get the stem off. I definitely don’t wanna break the pipe just to get the stem off. I’m wondering if I should just enjoy the pipe and give it a good hot water flush every 4-5 months depending on how much I smoke it.
I’ve never had a pipe with an Amber Stem. I can’t really tell if this is Amber or acrylic. And I can’t really make a guess on the date of this pipe? Might have to enlist the help of @condorlover1 or @ashdigger .
It arrived in the mail today. I took it out and carefully examined my new meerschaum pipe. It seemed fairly clean and the stem was in amazingly good shape. No teeth marks or chatter, a nice nickel maybe Sterling band on the stumble And some coloring and patina. I was thinking, “I scored a great little pipe here”.
I decided to clean it up after dinner. The first thing that became evident was that the stem was not coming off. I have a fairly strong grip, and I could not get this stem to budge either by twisting it or trying to pull it straight back. Once I gave up on this, worrying that I might break the pipe all together, I got a pipe cleaner and tried to pass it through the stem. I could not get a pipe cleaner to go through the stem, so I tried to blow some air through the pipe. It was clearly plugged up.
Interestingly enough the coloring on the stummel seen as a dark 3/8 inch ring of coloring is exactly where the pipe cleaner stopped.
I had to sit down and think this one over. I finally decided to get a large heavy gauge paperclip and straighten it out. I took the pipe to the sink and ran some hot water down into the bowl and stem while gently pushing the paperclip straight forward. It took several attempts, but I finally broke through the blockage. After that, I got a scrub brush I use for cleaning pipes and began to scrub out the stem and stummel while running hot water through it.
it was amazing the amount of black gunk and old particles of tobacco that came out of that pipe. It took quite a while to get it cleaned, but in the end it’s ready to smoke!
I’m still frustrated about not being able to get the stem off. I definitely don’t wanna break the pipe just to get the stem off. I’m wondering if I should just enjoy the pipe and give it a good hot water flush every 4-5 months depending on how much I smoke it.
I’ve never had a pipe with an Amber Stem. I can’t really tell if this is Amber or acrylic. And I can’t really make a guess on the date of this pipe? Might have to enlist the help of @condorlover1 or @ashdigger .
