What is the Meerschaum Pipes?
Meerschaum is a a german word describing a soft mineral, which literally means 'sea foam'. Alluding to the belief that it was the compressed whitecaps of waves, just as it is said in mythology for the goddess of beauty - Aphrodite. It is of an opaque white or cr'am color and when first extracted is soft and easily marked,but it hardens on exporuse to the sun or when dried in a warm room or in a furnace. To polish the pipes is very important. The polish must be good quality.
Most of the Meerschaum for commercial use is obtained from asia Minor, chiefly from the plains of Eskisehir, Turkey, where it occurs in a small rounded lumps, in alluvial deposits which are extensively worked for its extraction. The exracted lumps are first scraped then dried, again scraped and then polished with wax. The rudely shaped Meerschaum is then taken into workshops, where it is skilfully carved by hand into beautiful pipes, or turned and carved into cigarette and cigar holders and articles of adornment.
Meerschaum is one of the major reasons for the fame of Eskisehir. A hydrous magnesium silicate H4Mg2Si3O10 and used for tobacco pipes. Its high porosity acts as "natural filter" allows to absorb the nicotin. That is why it takes a rich brown color as used.
It contains Magnesium(Mg) and Hydrosilicade in it’s structure. Magnesium doesn't make it strong and the hydrogen and oxygen don't make it cool. It is the crystalline structure; the arrangement of the magnesium, silicon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms in a rigid crystalline structure that makes sepiolite so good for smoking. Eskisehir has the purest and whitest, most easy to engrave Meerschaum in the world.
Meerschaum deposits of the highest quality are found only in one place in the world - in the small city of Eskisehir in central Turkey. And here the deposits are confined to an area of only 4 square miles. It comes in other masses in various sizes and round. Because it is less dense that the water, it floats on the water. It is soft when newly – extracted and feels like soap but, it hardens overtime. It is also called 'white gold' because of it's color.
Mined with hand tools, and by men trained in this singular family tradition, meerschaum is excavated at depths ranging from 200 to 300 feet. The miners wash the raw meerschaum lumps and sort them into 5 categories according to quality. Each of these 5 categories is further divided into 12 qualities according to size, color porosity and homogeneity of the mineral.
Nearly 300 years ago, the first meerschaum pipe was carved by hand. And today, these unique pipes are still carved by hand. The carver, a craftsman of unique ability and long experience, examines each piece of meerschaum, calculating the lines of cleavage along which it should be split. The split block-meerschaum is soaked in water for 15-30 minutes until the material achieves a cheese-like consistency. Working with the softened material, the carver determines the rough shape of the pipe before the bowl and draft hole are bored.
Like all fine hand-crafted articles, no two meerschaums are alike. The carved meerschaum goes into a kiln at high temperature, a process that removes all moisture from the mineral. The shank is threaded and fitted with a stem. After meticulous polishing with the finest grade abrasives, the meerschaum is ready for waxing. Though there are many different wax formulas, beeswax alone yields the rich coloring associated with the finest meerschaums. Melted and then bleached, the beeswax is ready to receive the pipe itself. The subtle differences in color and tone among pipes are intentional, achieved by careful dipping of the pipes a specific number of times.
More Relation Topics:
Most of the Meerschaum for commercial use is obtained from asia Minor, chiefly from the plains of Eskisehir, Turkey, where it occurs in a small rounded lumps, in alluvial deposits which are extensively worked for its extraction. The exracted lumps are first scraped then dried, again scraped and then polished with wax. The rudely shaped Meerschaum is then taken into workshops, where it is skilfully carved by hand into beautiful pipes, or turned and carved into cigarette and cigar holders and articles of adornment.
Meerschaum is one of the major reasons for the fame of Eskisehir. A hydrous magnesium silicate H4Mg2Si3O10 and used for tobacco pipes. Its high porosity acts as "natural filter" allows to absorb the nicotin. That is why it takes a rich brown color as used.
It contains Magnesium(Mg) and Hydrosilicade in it’s structure. Magnesium doesn't make it strong and the hydrogen and oxygen don't make it cool. It is the crystalline structure; the arrangement of the magnesium, silicon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms in a rigid crystalline structure that makes sepiolite so good for smoking. Eskisehir has the purest and whitest, most easy to engrave Meerschaum in the world.
Meerschaum deposits of the highest quality are found only in one place in the world - in the small city of Eskisehir in central Turkey. And here the deposits are confined to an area of only 4 square miles. It comes in other masses in various sizes and round. Because it is less dense that the water, it floats on the water. It is soft when newly – extracted and feels like soap but, it hardens overtime. It is also called 'white gold' because of it's color.
Mined with hand tools, and by men trained in this singular family tradition, meerschaum is excavated at depths ranging from 200 to 300 feet. The miners wash the raw meerschaum lumps and sort them into 5 categories according to quality. Each of these 5 categories is further divided into 12 qualities according to size, color porosity and homogeneity of the mineral.
Nearly 300 years ago, the first meerschaum pipe was carved by hand. And today, these unique pipes are still carved by hand. The carver, a craftsman of unique ability and long experience, examines each piece of meerschaum, calculating the lines of cleavage along which it should be split. The split block-meerschaum is soaked in water for 15-30 minutes until the material achieves a cheese-like consistency. Working with the softened material, the carver determines the rough shape of the pipe before the bowl and draft hole are bored.
Like all fine hand-crafted articles, no two meerschaums are alike. The carved meerschaum goes into a kiln at high temperature, a process that removes all moisture from the mineral. The shank is threaded and fitted with a stem. After meticulous polishing with the finest grade abrasives, the meerschaum is ready for waxing. Though there are many different wax formulas, beeswax alone yields the rich coloring associated with the finest meerschaums. Melted and then bleached, the beeswax is ready to receive the pipe itself. The subtle differences in color and tone among pipes are intentional, achieved by careful dipping of the pipes a specific number of times.
More Relation Topics:
- How to Smoke Flake Tobacco
- Is it safer to smoke pipes and cigars than cigaret...
- How to Start Smoking a Pipe
- Winter Smoking
- Changing Weather Changing Tastes
- Pending Tobacco Bans
Labels: meerschaum, Meerschaum Pipe
posted by Shang Ning | 7:16:00 PM
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