Estate meerschaum pipe

I popped into the local B&M today to pick up some humidity discs and browse the corncob and meerschaum pipes.  Surprisingly, hubby let me go without supervision and with a request for another MM General if there was still one to be had.  I discovered a second drawer of Missouri Meerschaum pipes, but this post is dedicated to the Turkish meerschaum I found.

Light as a feather and quite efficient at burning tobacco, this beauty has wonderful and lovely intricate carving, with tiny spirals in between the teardrop latticework and also around the rim.

D. Ural lattice meerschaum pipe

estate meerschaum lattice billiard, full bent

tiny spiral carved around the rim

tiny spirals carved in between the teardrop lattice windows

Someone really enjoyed this pipe before it found me, and I have fully intention of continuing that.  I probably should not admit how little I paid for it!

Brand new Storient Meerschaum billiard

I've been openly coveting a new meerschaum pipe for a while now ... and my first arrived from Turkey the other morning.  It's a plain smooth classic straight billiard from Storient Meerschaum, with a pretty saddle-bit vanilla swirl stem, and it burns tobacco in a most efficient and enjoyable manner!  Enough of this blather and on to the pictures:

brand new Storient meerschaum pipe

The only pic of its white bowl

First bowl smoked in the new meerschaum billiard!

The inaugural bowl was McClelland bulk #5100 Red Cake, and as I type this I have C&D Blockade Runner burning.  Straight Virginia blends taste different in this pipe ... better.

Now the real fun begins - burning enough tobacco in it to color it.