New Meer Coming: Any Big Differences?

[goosetime]

Hey all!

I've got a meerschaum pipe coming in from Star Meerschaum Pipes, a pocket pipe with whale or perhaps nautilus detailing.

I've never smoked meerschaum before--I hear that it:

-doesn't need to be broken in but should be cleaned often (reaming?)
-can color many different ways and can be smoked with a glove to get really "true" coloring? (I don't intend to wear a glove though)
-will likely break if dropped, but can be taken in and out of different temperatures while rolling (i.e. lit inside and taken outside when it's below freezing)

Anything else I should know? I know that meerschaum gets very soft when exposed to water--is it okay to smoke a meer in the rain? Should I be cleaning tobacco juice out immediately?

 

[goosetime]

 

[Chasing Embers]

-doesn't need to be broken in but should be cleaned often (reaming?)

Blow it out before it's first smoke, likely full of meerschaum dust. Wipe the chamber out with a paper towel to prevent buildup after each smoke.

-can color many different ways and can be smoked with a glove to get really "true" coloring? (I don't intend to wear a glove though)

No gloves necessary.

-will likely break if dropped, but can be taken in and out of different temperatures while rolling (i.e. lit inside and taken outside when it's below freezing)

Depends on what it falls on. I smoke mine in the cold.

Should I be cleaning tobacco juice out immediately?

That's part of how it colors.

 

[goosetime]

Thanks again @Chasing Embers ! I will post pics when it arrives later this week. I am hoping that this pipe will be able to handle multiple bowls of different blends more or less one after the other.. does that sound right? I keep rotating my briars but my favorites always end up a little bit.. juicy. It's hard for me to keep my favorites out of the rotation for more than a day so I'm hoping this meer will fill in the gaps.

 

[mso489]

I have only one Meerschaum from a late member, but the pleasure is in the clarity and definition of flavors you get with pipes of this material. I think you will really enjoy that, especially with some of the premium blends.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I am hoping that this pipe will be able to handle multiple bowls of different blends more or less one after the other..

It will.?

I keep rotating my briars but my favorites always end up a little bit.. juicy.

Wipe them out as well and clean the mortises out with Q-tips when cool after each smoke. They can be smoked repeatedly as well.

 

[Chasing Embers]

the clarity and definition of flavors you get with pipes of this material.

Up until a point. Once heavily saturated with tobacco oils they smoke much the same as briar and are just as easily ghosted.

 

[Latakia Dave]

Hey all!

I've got a meerschaum pipe coming in from Star Meerschaum Pipes, a pocket pipe with whale or perhaps nautilus detailing.

I've never smoked meerschaum before--I hear that it:

-doesn't need to be broken in but should be cleaned often (reaming?)
-can color many different ways and can be smoked with a glove to get really "true" coloring? (I don't intend to wear a glove though)
-will likely break if dropped, but can be taken in and out of different temperatures while rolling (i.e. lit inside and taken outside when it's below freezing)

Anything else I should know? I know that meerschaum gets very soft when exposed to water--is it okay to smoke a meer in the rain? Should I be cleaning tobacco juice out immediately?

Congratulations on the purchase from Cemal Yavuz. I know you are going to enjoy the new Meerschaum!

 

[condorlover1]

Welcome to the hood. It never stops at just 'one meerschaum' as both myself and @weezell are living proof that there is always perfection just around the corner. Enjoy your new friend and don't worry about the 'glove thing' unless you are seriously into Michael Jackson impersonations!!

 

[dctune]

I have one nice (for me) CAO meer. I love it, but I honestly hardly ever smoke it bc it has a “sloped” top of the bowl, and it just irks me a little. So while it looks like it has a good-sized bowl, it’s actually quite shallow. (Unless you’ve got a reeeeeally mini Bobcat you can drive back and forth across the slope and grade the tobacco as you go. Of course, you’d also need a reeeeally mini operator for that reeeeeally mini Bobcat too.)

I digress.

I’ve never had a problem with moisture in mine. I also have a gourd calabash with a thick meerschaum insert. But naturally, those smoke entirely dry bc of the pipe composition.

The only pipe I have that has any meerschaum to it that presents a problem is not actually a problem that I’ve personally had. It was someone else’s problem that has now rendered it unsmokable for me. It’s an old estate Hilson from maybe the 70s. My dad bought it for me as a Xmas gift this year. Inexpensive, thankfully. It has a very thin meerschaum insert that sets inside what is some type of plastic/poly (acrylic?) material for the exterior bowl. And that insert came cracked and unusable. The eBay seller did some creative angles with the photos, and gave it a glowing write-up, so pops didn’t notice anything awry when he bought it.

There’s a whole story here, but in short, it seems these pipes were disasters from the get-go. And since the plastic obviously didn’t allow for the meerschaum to breathe or the moisture to evaporate well, the stinking things were famous for softening the inserts to the point they either cracked or crumbled. But you won’t have any problems like that with an all meerschaum pipe.

Bc I haven’t smoked my meer much, it has very minimal coloration. But I’ve seen some photos of some gorgeous coloring. I think people will even sometimes try to achieve a precise, uniform coloring by using warm, soapy water and maybe a toothbrush. I’ve only ever heard about that though. Never seen it done. Never tried it. I’d rather smoke my pipe than brush its hair.

 

[Zapasta]

This is a long video, perhaps you could put it on 1.5 or 2 times speed to watch it, but this has some great info on meerschaum pipes.

 

[Chasing Embers]

It never stops at just 'one meerschaum

Starting with the Kenan skull, I was up to 13 in 15 months.

 

[condorlover1]

@dctune: Soap? As an aid to coloring? I have never heard that one before. Do you have a source for that one? Just curious. I suppose if you soap was made from Bee's Wax it might have some basis but that is a new one to me and I have been smoking antique meerschaum pipes for 30+ years.

 

[OzPiper]

Bit of a myth that meers do not ghost. They do !

If you smoke an (overly) aromatic or English/Balkan blend it will affect your next smoke, even if you wipe the bowl out with a damp paper towel after.

Some are not bothered by ghosts. If you are one of those, smoke whatever you will.

Enjoy your new acquisition

 

[dctune]

@dctune: Soap? As an aid to coloring? I have never heard that one before. Do you have a source for that one? Just curious. I suppose if you soap was made from Bee's Wax it might have some basis but that is a new one to me and I have been smoking antique meerschaum pipes for 30+ years.

I’ll dig around and see if I can find it. Seems like it was in an old Pipes & Tobacco magazine I have from 20 years ago. There was something about a coloring contest. I specifically remember that striking me as odd. And it does seem like doing that would remove the bees wax coating. But maybe that was part of the plan?

 

[dctune]

@dctune: Soap? As an aid to coloring? I have never heard that one before. Do you have a source for that one? Just curious. I suppose if you soap was made from Bee's Wax it might have some basis but that is a new one to me and I have been smoking antique meerschaum pipes for 30+ years.

Well, no luck finding it in the issue I thought it was in. So who knows where I came across it. And Ye olde Google Searche yielded nothing helpful either.

 

[dctune]

@condorlover1 I’m still coming up empty on soap & water. But I did find some references (online, not in my magazine) about using aftershave to clean a meerschaum. Maybe that’s what it was, bc that also sounds weird to me. From what I can tell, the idea is to clean out all the little crevices, and also to remove places where the wax may have congealed or been rubbed off from handling while smoking too hot. Apparently this can keep the pipe from coloring evenly, requiring a stripping and reapplication of wax. Aftershave. Who knew? Not I.

Furthermore, all this talk of meerschaum got me wanting to smoke mine again. So I’m currently enjoying a bowl of a local English. Granted, I can’t taste it as I’m on the mend from Covid and have lost all smell and taste. So there’s that.

 

[condorlover1]

I hope you are on the mend as this COVID thing really is starting to become a frightful bore. I swear Humphrey Bogart was onto something when he said “The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.”

 

[dctune]

I hope you are on the mend as this COVID thing really is starting to become a frightful bore. I swear Humphrey Bogart was onto something when he said “The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.”

Thank you. Indeed I am. I’m over the worst of it at this point. Still not 100%. More like 70%. But it’s a vast improvement over the past several days. The smell and taste thing is one of the strangest things I’ve ever experienced. Hoping that comes back quickly. But I’ve read it can take up to six months. Sure hope not.

 

[AJL67]

This is a long video, perhaps you could put it on 1.5 or 2 times speed to watch it, but this has some great info on meerschaum pipes.

Great video, bumping for the other noobs like me. Although the first thing i thought when i saw this guy was “I’m not saying it was aliens, but it was aliens”. ?