Cigar Forums banner

The tale of the cranky meerschaum

735 views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  Mad Hatter 
#1 ·
Ah, I bring the pipe in yesterday - forget the camera. Bring the camera in today, forget the pipe. Therefore no pictures, just my flowery prose.

I have one meer. I have no idea of the maker, I think its block, got it a couple of years ago from a hole-in-wall B&M I found in some village out in Jersey. A simple billiard, no carved unclothed critters, partially bent stem (no photos, take mental pictures).

The draw sucked, or rather, didn't suck enough. The classic toothpick width tenon crap. In the early pipe days I figured it was normal to have to pull in a draw with 600psi pressure, when I got other "real" briars I stopped smoking that meer.

Along the way I had made a new bit for a Bjarne Viking (I had cracked the original), so after reading what someone here posted (I think the Mad Hatter), I figured I'd remove the small tenon/mortise crap and jam the handmade bit into the meer.

In a word ... crack! Shank cracked, apparently it had a hairline crack judging by the color inside the break. OK, plan B. Took the sharpest blade on hand, which happened to be a rusty old carpet cutter. A few round scores, a tad of sawing and viola, shorter shank. A bit of grinding with small hand files, and presto, the bit fits! Just screws right in, just like a briar.

What a draw! Had one smoke out of it, perfection, the poor meer has never seen a smoke like this due to the idiot maker who put in a whistling too small tenon thing. I do have to tweak the draft hole a bit, the abrubt angle due to the shorter shank makes it difficult to pass a pipe cleaner into the bowl. But it works, and I have a meer (again)!

Lessons learned. Meers ARE fragile. Try not to drop yours (too often). Meers are SOFT. I'm sure I could have gnawed the shank short with just my teeth. If your meer doesn't draw well, replace the tenon/mortise/bit any or all, it ain't rocket science!
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Glad it worked out for you, Ron!

I currently have 29 meers. 2 of them are at Ronni's shop for a draw fix. It may not be rocket science but fixing them is something I'd rather leave to a professional, especially since one of them is beautifully colored and the other has a carving to die for.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top