Torture Testing a Servi Meerschauum
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Chasing that is just a lovely meer.
SaintPete, great post. Yes we do tend to baby meers when they don't require any such gentle treatment. And I am 100% in alignment with you on the pipe smoker vs. pipe collector ethos.
I need to smoke mine more -- this thread has inspired me. I do have to say I quickly end up holding the shank, as the lattice work billiard I have (maker?) tends to get downright hot, even though I don't push my pipes to hard. That said, spilling all that heat makes for a VERY cool smoke.
SaintPete, great post. Yes we do tend to baby meers when they don't require any such gentle treatment. And I am 100% in alignment with you on the pipe smoker vs. pipe collector ethos.
I need to smoke mine more -- this thread has inspired me. I do have to say I quickly end up holding the shank, as the lattice work billiard I have (maker?) tends to get downright hot, even though I don't push my pipes to hard. That said, spilling all that heat makes for a VERY cool smoke.
Three weeks in and pulled it a day for a deep clean. Things I think I have confirmed to myself:
1. Reaming with paper towel. Awesome!
2. If you are a purist and just care about color (and it pains me greatly to say this) a coloring bowl, clean hands or even (shudder) a glove. Skin oils will transfer without a doubt otherwise and the rim will darken from smoke.
3. While not unbreakable meers are a helluva lot more forging and durable than they are given credit for.
1. Reaming with paper towel. Awesome!
2. If you are a purist and just care about color (and it pains me greatly to say this) a coloring bowl, clean hands or even (shudder) a glove. Skin oils will transfer without a doubt otherwise and the rim will darken from smoke.
3. While not unbreakable meers are a helluva lot more forging and durable than they are given credit for.
One month into it. 5 bowls a day. Seem it might be time for an intense cleaning. Ran it under the hot water in kitchen sink and ran some pipe cleaners through it and a butner reamer to get rid of small amount of cake. While a paper towel works quite well in the chamber, it seems it is a tad too rough for daily cleaning the outside. It creates tiny scratches which develop a scrimshaw effect. Coloring. Argh. No beeswax has been applied, barring it’s original wax. Coloring growing in a uniform yellow-tan. As always it has seen nothing but Carter Hall smoked in it.
Got any pictures of it? I love seeing the meers of others.
Me too. I am actually getting very attached to it.
Pictures! Pictures all!
Here's another of mine that I got from SPC about four years ago. Came with a regular and churchwarden stem.
One day I hope to find a meer that both catches my eye yet still fits in my wallets range. Ive noticed a lot of people become attached to theirs, maybe partially because of the unique qualities they end up having from the colouring.
Meer prices have skyrocketed in the past few years. My AKB claw was $120 four years ago, but now see the same pipe selling close to $300. 8O
Lest you think I am just abusing a pipe for the fun of it, let me say it is just part of a larger research project. The project is frustrating as NOONE seems to agree on anything. Take the “invention” of Meerschauum Pipes.
“...in 1723 Karl Kowates carved the first meerschaum pipe for Count Andrassy who had been presented with two raw meerschaum blocks before his return from a diplomatic mission to the Ottoman Court in Turkey...” [citation: Wesley Tetsuji Kan]
“The end of a legend: Meerschaum pipe production in the 17th and 18th centuries,” that the Turks had been smoking meerschaum pipes for seventy-five to a hundred years before Kowates. Before this time, meerschaum pipes were exported from Turkey to the Balkans and then marketed elsewhere. About 1750, production of meerschaum pipes started in Ruhla (Thuringia) and Lemgo (Westphalia). Initially rough-cut blanks were imported from Turkey and finished off in Germany. In the first half of the 18th century, blocks of raw meerschaum were also imported in small quantities. The large amount of meerschaum chip and dust waste resulting from meerschaum carving led to the development of “compressed” meerschaum...” [citation: Walter Morgenroth]
Meerschaum, called luletasi, aktas, or patal in Turkish, is a white sedimentary stone that has commonly been used for carving ornate sculptures. The stone gained its highest level of functionality when a Hungarian man ordered a block of meerschaum to be carved into a tobacco pipe. Before this happened, nobody really knew what to do with the stuff besides make little figurines out of it. Now these ornately carved, white stone tobacco pipes are famous throughout the world, and nearly every pipe collection has at least one meerschaum to accompany the briar...” [citation: Eskisehir Meerschaum Pipe Story By Wade Shepard]
And what do people in Turkey think of the pipes?
“...Few Turks smoke cigars, and Western-style pipes are an artsy affectation in Turkey. Briar pipes are rare, and even the beautifully-carved meerschaum pipes from Eskisehir sold in most souvenir shops are rarely smoked by Turks. Meerschaum pipes are for selling to tourists who prize meerschaum pipes. [citation: Turkey Travel Planner ]
And to top it off, many “facts” read like fables. From old pharmacy journals it is said you can color a meer by putting it chamber down over a corn cob, fill the cob with Bull Duram, light it and power puff the meer to color.
On the opposite side you can remove the color by boiling it in sweet milk.
“...in 1723 Karl Kowates carved the first meerschaum pipe for Count Andrassy who had been presented with two raw meerschaum blocks before his return from a diplomatic mission to the Ottoman Court in Turkey...” [citation: Wesley Tetsuji Kan]
“The end of a legend: Meerschaum pipe production in the 17th and 18th centuries,” that the Turks had been smoking meerschaum pipes for seventy-five to a hundred years before Kowates. Before this time, meerschaum pipes were exported from Turkey to the Balkans and then marketed elsewhere. About 1750, production of meerschaum pipes started in Ruhla (Thuringia) and Lemgo (Westphalia). Initially rough-cut blanks were imported from Turkey and finished off in Germany. In the first half of the 18th century, blocks of raw meerschaum were also imported in small quantities. The large amount of meerschaum chip and dust waste resulting from meerschaum carving led to the development of “compressed” meerschaum...” [citation: Walter Morgenroth]
Meerschaum, called luletasi, aktas, or patal in Turkish, is a white sedimentary stone that has commonly been used for carving ornate sculptures. The stone gained its highest level of functionality when a Hungarian man ordered a block of meerschaum to be carved into a tobacco pipe. Before this happened, nobody really knew what to do with the stuff besides make little figurines out of it. Now these ornately carved, white stone tobacco pipes are famous throughout the world, and nearly every pipe collection has at least one meerschaum to accompany the briar...” [citation: Eskisehir Meerschaum Pipe Story By Wade Shepard]
And what do people in Turkey think of the pipes?
“...Few Turks smoke cigars, and Western-style pipes are an artsy affectation in Turkey. Briar pipes are rare, and even the beautifully-carved meerschaum pipes from Eskisehir sold in most souvenir shops are rarely smoked by Turks. Meerschaum pipes are for selling to tourists who prize meerschaum pipes. [citation: Turkey Travel Planner ]
And to top it off, many “facts” read like fables. From old pharmacy journals it is said you can color a meer by putting it chamber down over a corn cob, fill the cob with Bull Duram, light it and power puff the meer to color.
On the opposite side you can remove the color by boiling it in sweet milk.
Great pipes, thanks. I only have a Meer lined briar Falcon pipe bowl. Very envious!! Of your pipes.
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