The geologist knows the light, porous Meerschaum as hydrous magnesium silicate. The pipe smoker knows it as the perfect material for providing a cool, dry, flavorful smoke. Meerschaum is a more fragile material than briar, and while warm it is even softer and thus more prone to damage.
It is strongly advised that you wait for the pipe to completely cool down before cleaning or taking it apart for any purpose. Remove the stem of your meerschaum by pulling it and twisting it CLOCKWISE while supporting the shank with your fingers. Replace the stem by pushing it and twisting it CLOCKWISE also. This ensures that the mortise connector always remains screwed into the shank, since unscrewing the mortise can cause the threads in meerschaum to wear out in time. A little care here will be repaid through a lifetime of smoking pleasure.
Do not tap your meerschaum against a hard surface. If you tap it in your palm, be sure to support the shank firmly with your hand. This is sound advice for briar pipe smokers also.
To empty a meerschaum, tip it upside down, and if the ash does not fall out on its own use a pipe tool gently to loosen it. Do not let a cake develop in a meerschaum. Therefore do not worry about "breaking in" your meerschaum. Meerschaum pipes, unlike briars, do not burn and hence need not be protected by a carbon cake. Besides, the meerschaum is softer than the cake and it may crack very easily, since the cake expands with heat faster than the meerschaum does. You can ream it out, but you should be very careful in the process; the reamer will remove meerschaum faster than cake, so you need to watch for spots where you have reamed away the cake and stay away from those.Use a sharp-edged, blunt-ended tool. Avoid digging into the heel of the pipe when cleaning the graft hole by not allowing the pipe cleaner to extend too far into the bowl. The meerschaum is WET and SOFT in the heel immediately after a smoke. If you have to, for a deeper cleaning you may use a paper towel wetted with a 40%-50% alcohol solution to rub the chamber.
Stronger alcohol may cause damage. It is not recommended to use pipe sweeteners in meerschaum pipes.
The porous mineral will be soaked with the sweetener causing it to lose its functionality. Smoke your favorite blend in your meerschaum. Each pipe will color differently. WHAT ARE YOUR PIPES MADE OF? All of our pipes are made of high quality block meerschaum.
WHAT ARE THE STEMS MADE OF? Our stems are made of lucite. HOW ARE THE STEMS ATTACHED TO THE PIPE?
Most of our pipes use two piece plastic tenon-mortise connectors. Please refer to this image. Mini pipes are attached with a single piece plastic connector which screws into shank in one end and slides into stem in the other. WILL I RECEIVE THE EXACT PIPE SHOWN IN THE PICTURE?
We have one of each pipe and you will receive the exact pipe you see in the picture. Only exceptions are the calabash pipes and cigarette holders, each of which are extremely similar to their pictures.
The item "APPLE Pipe BLOCK MEERSCHAUM-NEW-HAND CARVED W Case#404" is in sale since Thursday, June 28, 2018. This item is in the category "Collectibles\Tobacciana\Pipes\Meerschaum". The seller is "pipesdepot" and is located in North Brunswick, New Jersey. This item can be shipped to United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Japan, China, Sweden, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Bahamas, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Saudi arabia, United arab emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Croatia, Malaysia, Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, Viet nam, Uruguay, Norway, Aruba, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Saint kitts and nevis, Turks and caicos islands, Bangladesh, Brunei darussalam, Bolivia, Ecuador, Egypt, French guiana, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Iceland, Jersey, Jordan, Cambodia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Macao, Martinique, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russian federation, Canada, South africa, Colombia, Antigua and barbuda, Saint lucia, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman islands, Sri lanka, Maldives, Oman, Reunion, Montserrat, Philippines, Ukraine.