Well, not exactly I guess, but pretty darn close!
Will Meerschaum End one Day?
- Thread starter Sharp_tungsten
- Start date
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Well, not exactly I guess, but pretty darn close!
On the original question: If there's enough demand, new sources will be mined, new mines found. IIRC, Louisiana has meerschaum, but no developed mine. As to quality in existing mines, I have no idea, just hope.
Well, we're both wrong, but you were way closer than I was!
NM! South and West of ABQ.
As I was looking it up, I ran across a fine article on meerschaum by James Foster.
I read half of it, and will finish it later. Here it is:
LINK to PM article
I read half of it, and will finish it later. Here it is:
LINK to PM article
the thing is we won't run out of meerschaum we'll run out meerschaum that is worth the effort and the finances to get too. That's what we'll run out of. The thing is when does that happen. Well when all the factors come together. Who knows maybe they'll just cost a thousand dollars a little nosewarmer without any intricate design.
the problem is it's got one real commercial use. And that's with pipes. If you don't have carvers what's the point. The material is not expensive but the time and skill of the carvers is. If you can convince a lot of Turkish artisans that Louisiana is a nice place to raise a family then suddenly that mine has enough value to start digging out.
I just read another article about the American Meerschaum company in New Mexico. Lots of Meerschaum and a climate similar to turkey...
You're forgetting the time and cost of the excavation and convincing the children of the carvers who are growing up in an anti-tobacco world to take up a dying craft.
That's the real problem sir. If this was the 20s all over again American ingenuity, our insatiable appetite for tobacco and elbow grease would have already gave them turks a run for their money with Arizona Meerschaum.
On a serious note alot of the turkish artisans I message directly say without the Chinese buying pipes they wouldn't survive. I guess Asians aren't afraid of smoke and revere it. Look at Baki, all his pipes go to aliexpress.
But the work smarter not harder mentality would've destroyed alot of meerschaum.
Smoking is a status symbol in China. They're the largest current consumer of tobacco in the world right now.
I'm guessing machinist? I see the safety spectacles...