What Are Meers For?

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Effortlessdepths

Part of the Furniture Now
Feb 7, 2020
502
1,060
Micanopy, FL
Thanks for all the advice folks, and it brings another question to mind: what about the cake? I usually leave just a bit on my briars, how does that work with the meets?
 
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Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,248
108,346
Thanks for all the advice folks, and it brings another question to mind: what about the cake? I usually leave just a bit on my briars, how does that work with the meets?
Like cobs and morta, meers need no cake. There's a school of thought that cake can actually damage a meerschaum, and that it can restrict the coloring process.
 

F4RM3R

Part of the Furniture Now
Nov 28, 2019
567
2,512
38
Canada
Thanks for all the advice folks, and it brings another question to mind: what about the cake? I usually leave just a bit on my briars, how does that work with the meets?
This is one of the reasons meers have a different flavour profile than cobs or briar. It's best to keep no cake on a meer. And that means no cake imparting a flavour to your smoke. Which may or may not be a good thing, depending on the blend and your preferences.

I've bought estate meers where people had smoked them with a cake to no I'll effect. But I think the best smoke will be without cake. I just fold a pipe cleaner and dry wipe the bowl then take a folded pipe cleaner and wet it a little to wipe the inside. I really rub the inside with my finger on the pipe cleaner and it gets it perfectly clean every time. Gotta wash my hands after, but it's so much easier than having to remove cake buildup(which will happen if you don't clean it throughly every time). Some people use a paper towel, I prefer a pipe cleaner. Don't use the bristle kind.

You can also not be so anal and just dry wipe the bowl and keep the cake to a minimum as well, but I've had to clean and sand the bowls of some meers back down a few times, and it's easier and a better smoke to clean it good each time.
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,248
108,346
You can also not be so anal and just dry wipe the bowl and keep the cake to a minimum as well, but I've had to clean and sand the bowls of some meers back down a few times, and it's easier and a better smoke to clean it good each time.
I've taken to not cleaning mine until I'm ready to smoke it again and it seems to be coloring faster as a result.
 

pappymac

Lifer
Feb 26, 2015
3,270
4,261
I received my first meer in 1984 and I still smoke it. I've bought probably 10 or 12 since then and I've only had two break on me. The first was a new meer that wasn't packed for shipping and came with the shank broken off. (The retailer did replace it.)

The second was an unsmoked meer I found at a junktique shop. I examined it carefully under a magnifying glass looking for hairline cracks but saw none. The first time I smoked it, cracks started showing in the shank and it fell apart after it cooled.
 

shanez

Lifer
Jul 10, 2018
5,188
24,081
49
Las Vegas
I scored an SMS meer at an estate sale for $15. Not sure if it's valuable or not, and I'm tempted to smoke it, but I wanted to ask you fine individuals what is the best type of tobacco to smoke in a meer? Any special contraindications with how a meer works? This one looks to be slightly used. Any help would be appreciated.

I haven't really found any differences between my meers and my briars in terms of smoking and flavor characteristics. Perhaps there is a difference in durability but I've never dropped a meer onto a hard surface to find out and I've only dropped one briar.

Smoke anything you please in it any way you please. I clean mine the same as I do my briars which is pipe cleaners and wet paper towels to wipe out the bowls. I even run mine under the sink from time to time and haven't experienced any problems.

Heck, I have two meers that I have dropped, while lit, into my hot tub and had no ill effects from it. One of them I even smoked a few hours later after its dunking.
 

DAR

Can't Leave
Aug 2, 2020
355
1,113
Tiburon, California
I love my meers. I've had quite a few and they smoke just fine but I can't say they smoke better than any of my briar pipes. I love them because of the design and artistic qualities more than for their smoking quality. I have some that have darkened quite nicely and some that just refuse to get too dark no matter what.

BTW, if you want to darken a meer evenly try putting it in an air tight container and blowing pipe smoke into that container. Keep it covered and open it only to blow smoke into it. It takes a while and I know it's cheating but it does give it a nice creamy, golden color.
 

DAR

Can't Leave
Aug 2, 2020
355
1,113
Tiburon, California
If an all "creamy, golden" is the look you're going for, well and good. I prefer my meers to darken from the bottom up. African meers are artificially darkened and, excepting the rim, are more or less "creamy, golden." For some reason the manufacturers insist on staining the top of the bowl dark.
Well, creamy and golden may not be all you want in a meer. It’s just what that procedure produces. Of course you can smoke and get color from the bottom up but I like dark from the bottom to that golden hue up above. The variation in color is what makes meers interesting.
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,248
108,346
Well, creamy and golden may not be all you want in a meer. It’s just what that procedure produces. Of course you can smoke and get color from the bottom up but I like dark from the bottom to that golden hue up above. The variation in color is what makes meers interesting.

If you wait and clean them just before you smoke then again, they color faster.

This was smoked twice per day for two months.

20200927_053837.jpg
20200927_053246.jpg
 
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Effortlessdepths

Part of the Furniture Now
Feb 7, 2020
502
1,060
Micanopy, FL
Well, you folks were right in that my $15 meer was barely smoked.... but guess what was smoked in it?

Lakeland.

I don't have anything against Lakeland blends, and in fact enjoy a bowl of War Horse Bar in my 1950's italian boko pocket pipe, which was already ghosted with Lakeland's and therefore dedicated to them. But tasting the lovely taste old powdered old lady in my Orlik golden slices in not what I want. Any way to de-ghost this pipe?
 
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