Meerschaum?

[Requiem]

Thank you all.

The last few days I didn´t spend much time online, but finding a european online store selling IMP's seems not easy... I'm in no rush though, probably won´t have a budget for it until late June, so I'll probably end up finding it.

[SmokinJohnny]

This has been a good read. Including the pics posted. Beyond wiping the bowl after a smoke, should meers be cleaned occasionally with alcohol or pipe sweetener like we do with our briars?

[dmkerr]

Requiem,

Here's a further push for IMP.

In 1986, Ismet Bekler visited the pipe shop I worked at and carved a meerschaum pipe for me that has my name on it, his name and the date (10-16-86). It smokes well, as well as my IMP, even though it hasn't colored worth a damn and it's unbalanced (bottom heavy). But I can't pass a pipe cleaner through it to clear obstructions as I can with the IMP. Bekler is a master carver but neither he nor the folks at CAO Meerschaum seem to know a damn thing about pipe physics. Can't say that about the IMP guys. So to sum up, the IMP's don't have the physical problems other meers do, and they smoke just as well.

SJ, no, don't use any alcohol or solvents on your meers. Just a pipe cleaner and air. The meer will absorb a lot of the tars and the rest come out with pipe cleaners.

[SmokinJohnny]

Thanks, DM.