The penny press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1859-1860, 1859-10-05
About Meerschaum Pipes.

The Philadelphia North American says:
AS you smoke tobacco it distils in essential
oil-acrid and offensive to degree. Upon the
inside Of porcelain or common clay pipe, the
oil crystalszes and the pipe soon becomes pun
gent. The meerschaum, on the contrary, is
highly porous and absorbs the oil Of tobacco,
though in o manner that we cannot explain.
The new pipe at first becomes straw-colored on
the outside, a shade which deepens until it be-
comes as black as ebony. The mere oil of to :
bacco it absorbs, and consequently the blacker
1t becomes, the more exquisitely does the to-
bacco taste. After the pipe is once sa tursted
with the oil, IL absorbs no more, and tine pipe
is always sweet" and never acquires the rank
and offensive odor peculiar to other pipes.
This is the sole merit of the meerschaum-
that 1t is perfectly neat and nearly inodorous.
What we cannot account for is this Though
the pipe is perfectly white when new, and
must, Of course, bo first oolored on the inside,
yet, thought becomes colored externally till
of jetty backness, you will find on breaking
1t, that the inside is perfectly white Another
popularity Of the meerschaum is, that when
heated, you may perforate it with a pin, and
that when cold the mark made by the pin Is
no longer visible. lH
AS some of our readers may be intere sted in
meerschaum smoking, few directions as to the
mode OF smoking the pipe may not be amiss
Imprimis, then, if q smoker pulls away at his
newly purchased twenty dollar meerschaum as
be would at common clay ono, tho odds are
that he will calcine the inside Of the bowl, and
thus prevent it from coloring ever afterwards.
In this case, the stem If it bealso meorschaum,
will become black as jet, while the bowl will
be dirty yellow. ~ s7.'5
1t must at first be smoked carefully and
slowly, not being permitted to become TOO hot
to bo held In the hand; while the exulting DOS
sessor of the article will remember that, when
heated, the least touch will scfatch its surface.
The best plan Is to take 1t to a glovers and
have piece Of buckskin sewed closely around
the bowl until the colOring process is accom-.
plished. ''" .''''A ~ HfS
With these precautions the genuine meer-
schaum is colored in about years time to the
desired blackness. The process, however, may
be faciltated-and this we give as O piece Of
our own private informa mation-by saturating n
piece OF sponge in perfumed sweet oil, insert.
ing 1t in the bottom Of the bowl of the pipe,
just reaching above the bore and placing
button mould over it to separate the tobacco
aud protect the sponge from burning. The oil
assists the process Of absorption and carries
with it the oil OF tobacco through the pores.
If otto Of roses be used with the sweet OIL it
will impregnate the pipe with an enduring
perfume that will render It especially delight
full to the smoker, however abhorrent ii
may be to those who eschew smoking and
smokers. fd' a.''. .,tsI'r
The same paper tells Of a "splendid article
in the way OF o neerschaun," !" which is In the
possession of Dr. Morris ]. Asch, of Jefferson
Medical College. 1t formerly belonged to the
King Of Prussia, and was colOred in q most ef-
tectual manner. Its royal owner caused it to
DO smoked by whole regiment Of soldiers un-
til 1t was as black as anthracite, one man pass.
Ing 1t to his oomrade as soon as he had en-
joyed it sufficiently himself. .r'f ..fre-.