Clay pipes are good for taste testing since they don’t color the smoke. They get too hot and they’re too fragile to be used for normal smoking.
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Yeah, neat until you burn your fingers off!
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The wet tobaccos burn hotter than dry tobaccos. Use welding gloves!
I’ve never seen a pure clay pipe and always thought meerschaum is a kind of clay. Isn’t meerschaum a kind of fossilized clay? If not, what is it then?
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“Meerschaum is formed of fossilized, prehistoric sea crustaceans that lived millions of years ago.” Found this definition in “Pipes and Tobaccos” magazine Winter 1996 Vol. 1, Number 1. IMHO briar is the best pipe material. The longer you smoke it the better it gets as long as you have even cake build up and don’t let it get to thick. The cool thing about meerschaum is how it colors as you smoke it. Also different tobaccos taste different in different pipes. Moist tobacco smokes hot because of the steam that is created so you have to smoke it slow. I really love the occasional pipe.
Well, I’m learrning so much from this forum. Thank you all for explaining to me the difference between claypipes and meerschaum.
Anybody ever tried ‘Hardcastle’ pipes? They were a kind of budget pipe that I’ve not seen new for a few years but a beautiful smoke. And if you are looking for something to colour up, try a calabash, I think they are from your neck of the woods Pieter?
Ok, tried the Cairo today. Very interesting blend. Has a complex flavor that sort of starts off like citrus then shifts quickly to pine or juniper. The grind was agrreable to me as I don’t care too much for powdery types. May have a shot of menthol in there too but I’m not sure. One of the more unique blends I’ve sampled so far. I liked it.
The gourd calabashes are being made by Strambach in Austria. I think they use gourds from Africa, but the Meerschaum is from Turkey.
I like Grand Cairo a lot! It’s one of my favourites. Easy to take and with a well-balanced flowery scent. Reminds me a lot of F&T Bordeaux, which I also love!
Hey guys, I smoked my first pipe when I was seventeen, I’m now sixty. I’ve tried them all, and each has its merits. Meerschaum is my favourite, I like the way it smokes so clean and cool and does not color the taste. I also love the way they look. They predate briar. Briar probably doesn’t need any more opinions from me. Clay smokes the coolest of all, and is used by some professional tasters because it also does not affect the taste of the baccy. The reason it smokes cool is that its thin and conductive walls release more heat to the outside than either of the others. You only have to learn to hold it properly and it will not burn you. In days of yore, often pipes were sold already loaded with baccy. In pubs, the long stems provided by the keeper were smoked by different customers in turn, each new smoker just busted off a wee bit of the bit to get a clean one. Naturally it doesn’t travel well, but in the Buckskinning game I’ve seen guys packing them around stuck in the band of their hats. They were the only pipe anybody knew of in Europe or settled America for a couple of centuries. They are worth having around but I’ve never met anyone who uses them exclusively.
Just wanted to add that one shouldn’t be alarmed if when smoking a clay you notice a strange odor. The hot clay is responsible for that, and it is not a smell I’m particularly fond of or I’d smoke them more often.
And one last thing I remembered, it is important in buying Meerschaum to be sure it is block meerschaum. Some less expensive efforts are made from reconstituted meerschaum powder, a very inferior stuff that doesn’t last. This is especially true with calabashes.
I love my meerschaum. However, the briarwood is more tolerant of older or lower quality tobacco for me. Briar gives me a more consistent smoke and doens’t burn as hot. If I have fresh, moist pipe tobacco them meerschaum is the way to go for me. Getting back to the original thread; Grand Cairo is my all time favorite snuff. Despite the attacks upon my posts from certain lurking trouble makers, WoS is my my favorite snuff producer. If I had to choose one and only one snuff for my very last sniff it would be WoS Grand Cairo.
I like the off topic better…I love brier myself, the way she embraces her blend in that every smoke brings out more and more of his character. O.K. Grand Cairo is awesome I’ll give it that, I guess I’ve just been distracted by all these other fantastic offerings.
Had Wos Grand Cairo a few months ago but didnt take to it. A bit of a sting in the nose. Interesting flavour which I couldnt fathom out.
I love Grand Cairo; it’s spicyness, grind and moisture are all at the edge. Great snuff.