If our perception of beauty is in the details, then meerschaum pipes are some of the most beautiful ever made. These intricate pipes are born from a natural stone that’s mostly unearthed in central Turkey and is an ideal mineral for being gently carved and shaped. The word "meerschaum" translates to "sea foam" in German and talks to the natural white color and lightweight quality of this mineral. Legend has it that meerschaum is derived from the compressed whitecaps of waves, the same as the mythological goddess of beauty Aphrodite. Meerschaum is a porous mineral, absorbing some of the tobacco during use, and leading to a gradual color change over time which its owner relishes. Unmatched in beauty and intricacy, Paykoc meerschaum pipes are a joy to behold.

A BRIEF HISTORY

Meerschaum is found in only a few places worldwide, but the most well-known source for the mineral is in and around the city western Turkish city of Eskisehir. It’s soft enough for carving but hard enough to withstand polishing, illuminating the incredible talent of the artisans who began crafting pipes out of it in the 18th century. Within a hundred years, an elaborately carved meerschaum pipe or cheroot holder was a sign of status and culture for the men who enjoyed them in their often-secretive clubs and lavishly decorated book-lined studies. Sadly, the end of World War I ushered in a new global era, as elegant meerschaum tobacco pipes were superseded by Art Deco-inspired pipes with their clean, geometric appearance which remained popular even to this day.

At the height of meerschaum popularity, from about the 1870s to the 1920s, pipe makers in Hungary and elsewhere in Eastern Europe crafted blank blocks of the white rock into everything from the busts of historical and literary figures to cherubs in tranquility and hunters astride horses.

A SYMBOL OF POWER

Since their inception, meerschaum pipes have enjoyed fame as they've been embraced by world leaders like Napoleon, Middle Eastern sheiks, knights, noblemen, and well-to-do men who cherished them as status symbols. Perhaps the most famous contemporary reference to a meerschaum pipe came in the 2004 movie National Treasure, where an intricately carved and nearly 200-year-old pipe was the key – literally – to the location of untold treasure collected by the Knights Templar and squirreled away by American Masons.

ARE MEERSCHAUM PIPES FRAGILE?

Meerschaum pipes are very fragile, and this is due to their composition, primarily hydrated magnesium silicate. Magnesium doesn’t add strength, and the oxygen and hydrogen don’t make it cool. It’s the arrangement of the magnesium, silicon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms into a crystalline structure that makes sepiolite, a clay mineral easily identified by knowledgeable pipe smokers, so good for smoking.

MAINTENANCE TIPS

• Remember, your meerschaum pipe is fragile and demands careful handling compared to other pipes. It has to be handled lightly to avoid stroking off the wax and to keep any oils or dirt on your fingers from staining the pipe. We strongly recommend that you only handle your meerschaum pipe by the stem – and take special care not to bump or drop it on anything hard.
• Be careful not overly tighten up the bit. Most of today’s leading manufacturers use a Teflon fitting to join the shank and bit of high-quality meerschaum pipes, boosting their durability. But, unnecessary tightening can still crack the shank.
• A meerschaum pipe should never be reamed. After your smoke and the pipe has cooled, use a paper towel or a sanitizing cloth and softly wipe out any remaining residue in the bowl. You don’t want a meerschaum bowl to accumulate a cake like a briar.
• If you decide to use a pipe cleaner, be careful not to push the cleaner too deep into the bowl. The wire would ultimately grind a hole in the pipe heel.
• If you utilize a pipe sweetener when cleaning the inside of the shank, don’t let it drip on the outside of the pipe.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT USING A MEERSCHAUM PIPE

• A meerschaum’s color is derived from the light, volatile oils present in all tobacco products. If you’re smoking tobacco with a significant oil content, like the Latakia in an English blend, the smoking may produce a darker color. But your pipe will color nicely with whatever your favorite tobacco may be.
• The porosity of meerschaum also affects color, as does the frequency of smoking. While a higher-quality meerschaum pipe will start to change color almost immediately, the final coloring process is slow and could take a year or longer.

Finally, a meerschaum pipe can’t be smoked like a briar pipe. One of the intriguing qualities of meerschaum is its power to change between multiple colors, from white to golden to a rich reddish brown, for instance. This is derived from the tobacco’s oil and the wax on the exterior of the bowl. If it’s smoked too quickly or too hot, the wax could melt down leaving only the base to change color. It’s important to not touch the bowl with bare hands while the pipe is warm. The softened wax could cling to your fingers resulting in blotchy colors. But some pipe smokers prioritize meerschaum for its smoking properties only, and not its unique color changeability. If the color isn’t important, then, of course, a meerschaum can be smoked and handled in the normal manner as with other pipes.