Thorny old meerschaum query.

[pitchfork]

This being so, I half filled the bowl with some Mellow Virginia and fired it up. Unfortunately the restricted draw made for difficult if impossible smoking. Ah well, nothing ventured nothing gained.

Very true. It does make a nice curio for display somewhere, even if it's not much of a smoking instrument. I have a clay pipe -- cherrywood shape, decorated with bark and branches-- where the draft is nearly closed off. I've never smoked it, but it looks nice in the pipe cabinet.