It seems like this could be converted to a nose warmer (if it isn't already in a landfill).
The Great Meerschaum Cake Experiment
- Thread starter TheWhale13
- Start date
SmokingPipes.com Updates
Watch for Updates Twice a Week
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Site Sponsors
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
A bit surface coverage from the hairdryer. Were it hear from the lighter, one would assume the bowl would color first being closest to the source of heat.
I’ve read that it is not beneficial to build cake in a meer, so for now, I wipe the chamber out and I’m not allowing it to build any.
I’m certainly no meer expert, so I really can’t say if there is any benefit to having cake in a meer.
I’m certainly no meer expert, so I really can’t say if there is any benefit to having cake in a meer.
Top photo is from a month and a half ago after my first smoke out of the pipe on the right (AGovem billiard). Bottom photo is from just now
I tried cleaning the rim with some spit on the altinay (on the left) a few days ago and couldn’t be bothered to get a toothbrush or whatever to finish the job. Now I think it looks silly and I’ll likely never clean the rim again. The pipe on the right is getting some rim color too. When you smoke smaller meers like @didimauw and I, it’s easy to overstuff the bowl a bit since you’re pretty much packing a full bowl every time you smoke.
First of all, I like ALL the pipes I see there.
Second of all,
Yes
All my pipes turn out like this. Building a huge cake helps the lava overflow I suppose.
Cake builds in Meers just like it does with briar. I wipe the inside of the bowl after every smoke. But they still build Cake. Since I smoke them daily, I had to remove significant Cake this evening from my IMP and Altinay.
Curious. Why do you abstain from reaming and allow them to build up that much Cake?First of all, I like ALL the pipes I see there.
Second of all,
Yes
View attachment 193497View attachment 193498
View attachment 193500
All my pipes turn out like this. Building a huge cake helps the lava overflow I suppose.
I doubt many of my pipes could be called small but they're always packed full when I smoke. This is about all I get.
I hear you man. I have to carefully ream my altinay frequently even after wiping out with a pipe cleaner after every smoke. I'm trying a wet paper towel every so often on my newer one to see if it prevents buildup any better.
Wow that's kind of insane especially on that claw considering how colored it is. Are you cleaning them with spit every so often or something? Maybe since your bowls are so massive and last so long you end up smoking a fewer number of bowls a day, so the rim is exposed to flame less frequently? I usually smoke 3-5 smaller bowls a day sometimes all out of the same meer which is a lot of flame around the rim. Maybe you're just more careful and don't pack so close to the top?
A lot of what's written is BS. Resting a pipe, pipe rotation, don't use water on a pipe, meerschaum is fossilized sea creatures. I'm finding my meerschaums are coloring faster without diligently removing cake and cleaning them. Look at heavily colored antique ones, they're loaded with cake.
Nope, that would smear the build up. Made that mistake years ago on my first meerschaum. The only thing I'm doing to the now is blowing them out after smoking. The dublin shown with the claw has a lot of color as well.
Yeah that’s exactly what I do. Seems to be working so far.
I am not an authority on meerschaum pipes. What knowledge I have has been picked up from speaking to people who had been in the trade since the 1920s who are long since dead. The long dead fellow in Paris who family made and repaired meerschaum pipes and who would be over 125 years old today was a fountain of interesting meerschaum facts. As @Chasing Embers so perfectly put it 'some much BS' has been written about meerschaum pipes that like religious beliefs the subject have become a matter of personal taste. Will the pipe explode with too much cake build up. Who knows. If the walls are thin enough then maybe, with that said I have dug out mountains of carbon and clinker from ancient meerschaums and I have never touch wood had a bowl split on me. Maybe older pipers were more resilient with different grades of meerschaum. Who knows. YMMV!
Lazy. some of us clean ream and polish after every smoke. Sometimes I don't even use a pipe cleaner after 3 or 4 smokes.