Tags: meerschaum
MEERSCHAUM PIPES
Meerschaum
is a a German word describing a soft mineral , which
literally means ‘sea foam' alluding to the belief
that it was the compressed whitecaps of waves, just as it is said in mythology for the
goddess of beauty - Aphrodite. It is of an opaque white or
cream colour and when first
extracted is soft and easily marked,
but it hardens on exporuse to the sun or
when dried in a warm room or
in a furnace. To polish the pipes
is very important. The polish must
be good quality.
Most of the Meerschaum for commercial use is obtained from Asia Minor,
chiefly from the plains of Eskisehir , Turkey
, where it occurs in a small rounded lumps
, in alluvial deposits which are extensively
worked for its extraction. The extracted lumps
are first scraped then dried,
again scraped and then polished
with wax. The rudely shaped
Meerschaum is then taken into workshops,
where it is skilfully carved by hand
into beautiful pipes, or turned
and carved into cigarette and cigar holders
and articles of adornment.
Meerschaum
is one of the major reasons for
the fame of Eskisehir. It contains
Magnesium(Mg) and Hydrosilicade in it’s structure. Magnesium doesn't make it strong and the
hydrogen and oxygen don't make
it cool. It is the crystalline structure; the arrangement of the magnesium, silicon, oxygen, and hydrogen
atoms in a rigid crystalline structure that makes sepiolite
(the clay mineral that is identified by pipe smokers
as meerschaum) so good for smoking.
Eskisehir has the purest and whitest ,most
easy to engrave
Meerschaum in the world. Meerschaum deposits of the highest quality are found only
in one place in the world - in the small city
of Eskisehir in central Turkey. And here the deposits are
confined to an area of only 4 square miles. It
comes in other masses in various sizes and round.
Because it is less dense that the water,
it floats on the water. It is soft
when newly –extracted and feels
like soap but, it hardens overtime. It is also called
‘white gold’ because of it’s colour.
Mined
with hand tools, and by
men trained in this singular family tradition, meerschaum is excavated at depths ranging from 200 to
Nearly
300 years ago, the first meerschaum
pipe was carved by hand.
And today, these unique pipes
are still carved by hand.
The carver, a craftsman of unique ability and long
experience, examines each piece of meerschaum,
calculating the lines of cleavage along which it should be split. The split block-meerschaum is soaked in water for 15-30
minutes until the material achieves
a cheese-like consistency. Working with the softened
material, the carver determines the rough shape
of the pipe before the bowl
and draft hole are bored. Like
all fine hand-crafted articles,
no two meerschaums are alike. The
carved meerschaum goes into a kiln
at high temperature, a process that removes
all moisture from the mineral. The shank is threaded
and fitted with a stem. After
meticulous polishing with the finest
grade abrasives, the meerschaum is ready for waxing.
Though there are many different
wax formulas, beeswax alone yields
the rich colouring associated with the finest
meerschaums. Melted and then bleached,
the beeswax is ready to receive
the pipe itself. The subtle
differences in colour and tone among
pipes are intentional, achieved by careful dipping
of the pipes a specific number of times.
Meerschaum
is the most flavourful and beautiful pipe you can own. Meerschaum
- one of the most porous substances
found in nature - acts as a filter, absorbs tobacco tars and nicotine,
and yields a most satisfying smoke. Meerschaum smokes cool and
dry with a flavour unrivalled by any other
pipe. As it ages, meerschaum colours a rich honey-brown,
improving both in appearance and taste.
Meerschaum
Pipes - with a minimum of proper care - will
last for a lifetime. They will not burn out
as briars do.
A meerschaum
is an investment in smoking
pleasure. As beautiful as meerschaum is to the eye, its
true beauty must be experienced. A meerschaum is made to smoke. Hold
it. Enjoy its light weight and
silky feel, its distinctive taste, its ripening
to a mellow golden-brown. Justly deserving
its reputation as the "aristocrat" of pipes, the meerschaum
is not meant for the connoisseur alone. All pipe
smokers can appreciate the unique pleasure
of meerschaum.
Don't
be afraid to handle or hold
your meerschaum with clean hands.
Remember, you purchased a meerschaum primarily for your
smoking pleasure. The "added" pleasure you derive
from a meerschaum is watching it colour as you smoke it.
The
conventional wisdom on this topic is that
handling a meerschaum while warm removes
the beeswax coating on the pipe, which highlights
its colouring. While this is true,
only the purist - the smoker
far more concerned with the look
of his pipe than his own smoking pleasure
- need worry about it.
Do take
care when removing the stem
of your meerschaum by pulling it and
twisting it CLOCKWISE while
supporting the shank with the
fingers. Replace the stem by
pushing it and twisting it CLOCKWISE also. Twisting counter-clockwise could unscrew the tenon,
and doing so repeatedly can strip out the
shank. A little care here will be repaid through a lifetime of smoking pleasure.
Don't
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
doesn't fall out on its own
use a pipe tool gently to
loosen it.
Don't
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've got to be very
careful in the process--the reamer
will remove meerschaum faster than cake, so
you've got to watch for
spots where you've reamed away
the cake and stay away
from those.
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.
Do clean
the cake or residue inside the bowl of your
meerschaum. 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
(NOT liquid cleaner) to extend too
far into the bowl. Do not use alcohol to clean
the bowl of a meerschaum pipe. The meerschaum is WET and SOFT in the heel immediately after a smoke.
Smoke
your favourite blend in your meerschaum.
Each pipe will colour
differently.
