Someone here returned a meerschaum to pure white wiping it with am alcohol wipe and the one I posted above wiped away with a jeweler's cloth. Even the dark one I cut open had no coloring in the middle of the material.
It's made me wonder if a particular famously colored pipe may have been pre stained like the oxblood meers from centuries past. Never saw that one unsmoked.
I have one SMS short lattice billiard and one Falcon Meerschaum bowl, but I don't smoke them as much as I should because I get too concerned about handling them.
No need to wax them, they're pretty well soaked with it when they're carved. Smoke the hell out of them and treat them like any other pipe is my method.
Too many myths thrown our there about meerschaum. There just another pipe to be enjoyed. Not nearly as fragile as is often told either.
I take this Altinay and my Tekin billiard with my everywhere. If I’m walking around the city running errands I’ve generally got a pipe in my mouth. I prefer the meerschaums because I just put them in their case when I go into a store. And when I’m done I pop them out and get things going again. There is no babying going on here.
Less authoritative observation, more centuries long myth dispelling.
You inspired me to contact Altinay about a possible Meer commission - we'll see how it goes. Today I got an apology for not getting back to me (not because I complained, just because it had been a couple of days since I messaged and he thought he maybe should have responded sooner) - still waiting on some answers, but at least he let me know "I am in abroad". LOL, I'm sure that's a translator thing, but my first thought was to message back whether I was "talking" to Frank Sinatra!
I've got a 50th birthday coming up in 2024. I'm seriously considering contacting Ayhan Karahan for an Eris figural for the occasion.
