Definitely dirt... It was filthy when I got it...Also: meers aren't meant to stay white. They color from honey to deep amber brown as the tars and oils given off by burning tobacco migrate through the material.
Without pictures I can't say, but there's a fair chance that what you're seeing in the lattice isn't "dirt".
That was me. That was a pipe I didn't care about. Since this pipe is a lattice and the lattice, I am worried about the ultrasonic vibrations causing damage to a 100 year old pipe.My memory has been a little hazy, but I thought you were the one who dipped your meerschaum in water for an extended period of time about 3 years back?
It will still work
There is definitely gunk (looks like mud) down inside the lattice...Though coloring from use includes dirt and oils.
Can't get down into the crevasses that way...I just use a toothbrush.
I am well aware of that, having wiped the lattice right off the finest lattice pipe I ever owned trying to hasten the drying with a towel - now I let them air-dry...Water softens meerschaum. Soaking the mineral in a crock pot is how the carvers prepare the blocks for their work. So, I would not recommend it.
None of those will get around and underneath the hollow lattice.Toothbrush, painters (art) detail brush, toothpicks. Any will work if its tobacco bits from scooping or the ones that just find their way down. If its coloring from use. Leave it be.