Meerschaum is found in a handful of places around the world, but the most famous source for the stone is in and around the city of Eskisehir in western Turkey. A porous mineral, meerschaum is soft enough to be carved but hard enough to be polished, revealing the incredible skill of the artisans who began making pipes out of the material in the 18th century. By the late 19th century, an ornately carved meerschaum pipe or cheroot holder was a status symbol for the men who smoked them in their clubs and book-lined studies. But by the end of World War I, fancy meerschaum pipes had been superseded by the clean, geometric look that would become Art Deco.
During its heyday, from roughly the 1870s to the 1920s, pipe makers in Hungary and other Eastern European countries, many of whom were Jews who passed their trade from son to son, transformed blank blocks of white meerschaum into everything from the heads of figures from history and literature to angels in repose and hunters on horseback. Cheroot holders, which have smaller bowls than full pipes, feature some of the most intricate carvings, while cylindrical cigar holders are less detailed due to their small surface area. Some of the most popular subjects of antique meerschaum include depictions of leaders such as Napoleon, knights and noblemen, and sailors, who often appear inebriated, sometimes clutching a bottle as the lean against the pipe's bowl.
Beyond the appeal of their decorations, meerschaum pipes are popular with smokers for the quality of the smoking experience they produce. Unlike pipes made of briar root or cherr...
Today meerschaum is not allowed to be exported from Turkey in its raw, block form, which has spurred new generations of carvers there. In many cases, the characters and subjects of contemporary carved meerschaum are positioned between the bowl, which is often left unadorned, and the end of the pipe's stem. Other styles emulate the classical saxophone shape of a large carved bowl attached to a stem that angles up to meet the smoker's mouth. The pipes are considered handsome enough, but in general, the details on contemporary pipes are less ornate and more formulaic than those on their forebears.
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Source: Google News
Smoke-Free Law Spokesperson Will Speak to Chamber
The Missourian, May 16thSince the law was passed, the council has made some changes, including allowing smoking, for demonstration purposes only, in a designated area of the Missouri Meerschaum Corn Cob Pipe factory. The council also amended the distance that smokers...Read more
Forsyth 'drug' paraphernalia sellers under new scrutiny
NorthFulton.com, May 7thThe law would exclude the sale of cigarette papers, wrappers, blunt wraps and "traditional tobacco pipes (such as brand names Briar and Meerschaum), holders, cigarette rolling machines or tobacco in any form whatsoever." A county resident said the fee...Read more
No More Fakelore: Revealing The Real Pennsylvania Dutch Cuisine
KUNC, May 6thEnlarge image. Credit Courtesy of University of Pennsylvania Press. Cabbage was, and still is, essential to Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine. This 1878 card caricatures a prosperous "Dutchman" with his meerschaum pipe and drumhead cabbage. Enlarge image...Read more
Rogue Philosopher, Great Communicator
New York Times (blog), May 2ndFor years, visitors to the Copenhagen City Museum wandered into a modest room that contains a few artifacts from the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard's life: portraits, meerschaum pipes, first editions and, best of all, the desk where he stood and...Read more
Irving Kamil, 86; Sherlock Holmes society founder
NorthJersey.com, May 1stPages: 1 2 > display on one page | Print | E-mail. From the meerschaum pipes, deerstalker caps and myriad other Sherlock Holmes memorabilia in his Cliffside Park home, it can be deduced that Irving Kamil admired the cold and calculating London detective...Read more
Hair: The Short and Long of It
New York Times, May 1stThe one I went to was run by a guy who puffed a Meerschaum pipe full of some strawberry-flavored tobacco that made your eyes water. Often a girl was getting her hair done at the same time you were there. Sometimes the barber would use a blow dryer on...Read more
Bill targeting sale of marijuana 'bongs' OK'd
St. Augustine Record, April 26thThe bill was amended to exempt “briar, meerschaum, clay or corn cob” pipes. Its supporters also assured that hookahs would not be taken off store shelves. Sen. Kelli Stargel, who sponsored a companion Senate bill, said she was hopeful that retailers...Read more
Florida 'Bong Ban' Passes, Doesn't Really Ban Bongs All That Much
Huffington Post, April 26thBut before passing, the bill was watered down to make it "unlawful for a person to knowingly and willfully sell or offer for sale at retail any drug paraphernalia... other than a pipe that is primarily made of briar, meerschaum, clay or corn cob...Read more
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