Translucent Meerschaum?

[AroEnglish]

To the best of my knowledge, Altinay is the only one that identifies the pipes that are made from "translucent" blocks (I believe they coined that term). At least I've never seen any other seller display the distinction. You may find one elsewhere, but it's difficult to tell from a pic whether it's that type of block.

More recently I noticed Altinay also started grading the translucent blocks as A, AA or AAA. Some kind of quality distinction, but not sure exactly what it represents.

Thanks. Guess it's time to pinch some more pennies.

 

[dottlejockey]

Can anyone name carvers who do translucent meers besides Altinay? I'd love to get an Altinay but it's out of my range.

I have a bamboo Fikri Baki with this trait. In Florida at the moment and w/o my camera (and that pipe due to size) or i'd take a snapshot. Must just be about where they source their block.

 

[BrightDarkEyes]

Can anyone name carvers who do translucent meers besides Altinay? I'd love to get an Altinay but it's out of my range.

I think it comes down to pure luck if you use other sellers. What I believe, too, is that translucent meerschaum is lighter than the average Turkish meerschaum. If the seller has super high resolution photos and great lighting, you might be able to spot a “translucent meerschaum”.

I’m waiting for one now from a US eBay seller. I put my bet on it being a translucent grade of meerschaum based on another pipe I have that has a similar look and it’s light weight.



The price was pretty good for meerschaum these days and I received an excellent offer from the seller so I couldn’t resist. I was checking this pipe out for weeks already.

 

[donoj]

I was told that a translucent meerschaum would look like “ cream of wheat”. Just like the picture above.

 

[donoj]

Might be hard to see since the pipe is unsmoked