By LARRY LeMASTERS
Auction Exchange Correspondent

ESKISEHIR, Turkey — Most of us have stood before a glass case and ogled a meerschaum pipe. Meerschaums are those exquisitely carved creamy white or bone colored pipes, like the one Sherlock Holmes smoked.

Meerschaum is a German word meaning “sea foam,” indicating the belief that the stone is the compressed whitecaps of waves.
Meerschaum is a rare sedimentary stone mined primarily in Eskisehir, Turkey, where the finest deposits are found. Surprisingly, meerschaum is also found in three locations in the United States: Utah, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania. However, these deposits produce low quality ore.

Meerschaum, called luletasi in Turkish and “white gold” by artisans, is a soft, porous material, slightly harder than talc that can be carved using a knife or even a fingernail. The stone’s qualities allow it to act as a filter, absorbing tobacco tars and nicotine, yielding a mellow, cool and dry flavor that is unrivaled by briars or other pipes.

Meerschaum pipe production probably began in the 17th century, but no one knows exactly when. By the 18th and 19th centuries, at the height of meerschaum’s popularity, Vienna, Austria, was the center of meerschaum pipe production. Elaborately carved scenes of animals, mythical creatures, faces, natural motifs and sailing motifs decorated the pipes carved in Vienna, and these pipes were highly sought after by wealthy Europeans.

Myths surrounding the first meerschaum pipe are endless. There are stories that the first pipe was carved for the King of Poland, using a design he drew. Another story tells how the first meerschaum was delicately carved by a starving French artist, and there is a reasonably creditable account of how the first such pipe was a gift to a Hungarian noble.

While meerschaum pipe’s creation date may be disputed, care for these lovely pipes is not. Meerschaum is a soft mineral - again, think of talc - and it can easily be chipped or destroyed. Always wash your hands before holding a meerschaum, since human skin oil is quickly absorbed into the mineral and will change both its coloring and texture – but don’t be afraid to hold it, even when it is “hot.”

If you smoke your meerschaum, use pipe cleaners in both the stem and bowl to eject dottle (unburned tobacco) and ash. And never wash your pipe. Meerschaum pipes are traditionally coated in beeswax, which aids in the coloring process during smoking, so washing the pipe would damage the surface.

Since meerschaum is a mineral, it is difficult, sometimes, to tell the age of a pipe, but there are a couple of clues to age that a collector should be made aware. First, as meerschaum is exposed to sun and air, it has a tendency to harden, making the pipe more durable; also, most fine meerschaum pipes are cured in a kiln at high temperatures. If your fingernail will easily scratch meerschaum, it is probably a new pipe or one of inferior grade.

Also, if the pipe is used for smoking, the color of meerschaum changes over time. Heat from the burning tobacco and the absorption of nicotine darkens meerschaum into lovely colors of yellow, orange, red, and rich honey-brown, so one way of assigning age and value to a meerschaum pipe is color – the darker the color, the greater the value.

While color is a determinate of age, it can also fool collectors since some meerschaum pipes, dating back hundreds of years, were carved as ornamental pipes for display purposes and not for smoking. These display pipes are often oversized, some are several feet long, and still retain their whitish coloring.

Most ornamental meerschaum pipes depicted Biblical or mythical scenes. A vintage ornamental meerschaum pipe may easily sell for $10,000 or more at auction.

The majority of meerschaum pipes that collectors seek are small-bowl pipes that were created for smoking. Expect small-bowl meerschaums to sell, on average, in the $300 range.

The popularity of cigarettes after World War I brought about the demise of the European meerschaum industry. In the 1970s, the Turkish government banned the exportation of raw meerschaum in an attempt to bolster Turkey’s meerschaum pipe industry, giving its domestic carvers a virtual monopoly.

Today all meerschaum pipes are carved in Turkey, and it is a rare pipe collection that does not have at least one meerschaum pipe in it, prominently displayed for its aesthetic beauty.

If you want to learn more about meerschaum pipes firsthand, every September there is a Meerschaum Festival in Eskisehir. There are also several excellent online articles where you can learn more about meerschaum pipes. Among these are “What is a Meerschaum Pipe?” at www.ehow.com and “Eskisehir Meerschaum Pipe Story” at www.vagabondjourney.com

The most complete source of information that I have discovered is at www.meerschaumstore.com/lopedia .htm#1 which is an encyclopedia of meerschaum information.