Thoughts on AKB Meerschaum?

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lasttango

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 29, 2012
875
17
Wilmington, De / Ithaca, NY
I've been looking at Meers. Does anyone have experience with AKB?

They're are at the Top of my list... I have a gift card for Smokingpipes, .com and that's the brand they carry.

Thanks

-G

 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,260
108,378
I have one of their claws, and its a great smoker.
http://pipesmagazine.com/members/chasingembers/album/picture/15528

 

robwoodall

Can't Leave
Apr 29, 2015
422
5
I'm really hoping more people respond to this post. I've been thinking about an ABK (like I need another pipe!) but I would like to hear from some owners, first.

 

lasttango

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 29, 2012
875
17
Wilmington, De / Ithaca, NY
Yeah... I am looking at a few pipes from Meerqueen, AKB, Altinok and WGM/IMP.
I even started a thread "can I go wrong with the following..."
I guess you really can't go wrong with one of these brands...
Solid Block, reputable, experienced craftsman, briar-type tenon with 4mm draft hole... all seem to have the characteristics members here said were important...
Now my issue is with pricing and details. For example, with WGM's I see prices all over the place for pipes that seem the same... are they the same? Am I getting an IMP stamped pipe from a wgm site? or... Altinok seems to have descriptions of pipes that are written by different people.There is a lack of descriptive constancy that leaves me wondering if the pipe am looking at has all of the qualities I seek... Or with MeerQueen... What is a diamond grade versus what is not. None of their pipes explicitly say Diamond grade... does 6/6 mean diamond grade? I was just about to pull the trigger on this Meerqueen for an order when the sales girl told me the stem I wanted was unavailable... does that mean Tekin isn't carving it? Because his name was on the stem... so, is that why my discount is so big?

and lastly... the AKB's... nothing mentioned about the tenon... are they the briar types with the 4mm draft holes that members said I needed? ...and why do the plain jane AKB's seem to be $100 more than the intricately carved ones? On other sites, it's the other way around.
Seems like with each one of these 4 companies I am lacking one piece of info that wounds my confidence ordering.
Should I buy direct from Turkey or from a USA middleman?
This is confusing.

 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,260
108,378
When IMP disbanded, their lead carver formed WGN. Some of the old stock still has IMP on it. When IMP disbanded, SPC sold hundreds of remaining very large meers last year for under $150. I grabbed this one during that sale.
http://pipesmagazine.com/members/chasingembers/album/picture/16053

 

meerqueen

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 9, 2012
221
0
@lasttango,

Tekin is one of our master carver since 1999.He will carve the model that you want.the white stem was out of stock but what we learned from our supplier that they are sending a new batch which includes the white stem also.AfterTekin carve the pipe he sign the pipe itself or stamp his signature on the stem.
You should get an email from our customer support about this issue

Thank you

Bahadir

 
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