Meerschaum

[Tsal]

Don't believe everything you read, I've smoked my Meers plenty of times in the dead of winter without any cracking. You would have to leave it buried in the snow until it's frozen solid and then maybe use a torch lighter to over heat the bowl which I doubt this is the typical scenario for having a smoke outside.

I could just as easily say, "don't believe every anecdote you read". I just wanted to give the OP all the information I had, including my own experiences with the 6 meers I've had. Also just want to say that I tend to respect the word of a guy(Fred Bass, RIP) who's meerschaum collection was in the 100's and spent a lot of time contributing his knowledge and experience to the community.

I could never get my backside to talk, I don't know how people do it. Lol

Could have fooled me!

Have I struck the sensitive chord, my apologies. I know from my experience that meers don't crack like yours did so we'll have to agree to disagree. Never heard of Fred Bass, I'm sure he was a goodfella.

[Fr_Tom]

I have had meers crack, but it has never been from smoking outside. I have gone with pipe in mouth from the house to shovel snow, and perhaps I have just been lucky.

[Dr Uhaha]

You know a pipe is loved if people squabble over it.

[davidmackv]

I love meerschaum pipes and would recommend everyone have at least one good one.

[Kevin Keith]

I love meerschaum pipes and would recommend everyone have at least one good one.

I agree. In fact, we dedicate a whole month emphasizing our meers, coinciding with NCAA basketball March (Meer) Madness. It will be here before we know it.

[MeerCat]

I can offer my personal beliefs, and what I've learned restoring, waxing, and cleaning my Meers, but I can't help you in the "expertise" field. I'm just an avid pipe smoker and Meer collector and have no formal education in pipe design or engineering or carving.

There seems to me to be an awful lot of folklore, smoke shop voo-doo, and stuff out there that simply isn't true regarding meers.
I've restored and repaired many. Most of them I pick up in antique and thrift shops. I do buy new on occasion but I feel they are inferior quality to the vintage stone.

My advice would be to buy one you can touch and inspect so you don't end up with a cheap 'tourist" meer.
I've found it to be true that there are two kinds of Meers, ones you set up in your display case and look at and treasure, and ones you smoke everyday.

My favorite Meer, that I smoke 3 to 4 bowls a day in, was a new Meer, unsigned, without a fitted case, never smoked and new. I passed it over three times prior in the shop and bought something else instead. My opinion was it was unsigned which holds no collector value to me, it was unsmoked, which meant I'd have to do all the labor to color it, didn't have a fitted case which lowered the collector value, and I just didn't like the subject of the carving.

My personal opinion (and that's worth every penny you paid for it) is that the quality of a Meer pipe is how it smokes. How pretty it's carved, who carved it, etc etc etc is all secondary.

My favorite "display" Meer I own is an elaborate CAO carved by Bekler. It's a ladies hand cupping a rose, very nicely carved and just plain erotic to look at. It smokes good but not the best.

Some people say you have to buy expensive Meers to get a good one and I have found that not so. Anybody can over charge you for a pipe, and many I find used are from widows or family who inherited grandpas pipes and simply don't know what they are worth and don't care, so they sell cheap. One of the most gorgeous floral Meers I have is a CAO carved by Sevket with an eagle on the front of the bowl and I got it at an antique store. The guy wanted $99 for it but I haggled a bit and got it for $85 with no tax. I've been offered $200 for it but decided to keep it in my collection as I probably wouldn't be able to afford a floral Sevket of it's quality if I had to pay "retail price".