New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-10-20
TITO STORIES fOR SMOh EMS.
TWELVE HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR CoioRlNd The
PERUvIAN's MEERsCHAuMs THE DUKE
AND HIS CIGAR-HOLDER.


AND HIS CIGAR-HoLDER
"Oh yes. you ought to be abe to get real
meerschaum for ga plain one. of course-but there
-, much s,Ie for the carved and ornamental ones
nov, said the pipe expert TO MS interlocutor'
..Twenty-nve or thirty years ago meerscnaum carV-
ing was wel done here-so wei that an American
exhibit only failed 10 receive media al the ram
Exposition OF 1867 because the judges thoughl tue
work too good to have been done this side or the
Atlantic That bulldog would have cost you '"'
or three times the price in those days 1t was eN-
nensive then-the work and the material both-ou'
naope had an appreciation of it that they seem 20
have lost since And this is the reason IN part a.
any rate The growth OF commerce has Hlade i
po4=ible for American manufacturers TO import
meerschaum directly from the producers IN Aus'r'a
and Turkey instead OF paying the profits OF ten or
a 9ozen middlemen a. they once had 10 do. Amber
,s cheaper too for the same reason Then, some
years ago taking advantage OF the cheap prices
cheap manufacturers went into the business with
CHEAP inbor-tenement house labor. largey-and
cheap ened and vulgariZed the business. Now tna'
Won can bug meerschaum al every Third-ave cigar
store. few people nave any reII ho'''h u H'''9'
work.
Il mean 70 cultivate taste FOR It again. though
TO popularize IT, II | can. I'm going 10 sell lot
OF meerschaum BLOCKS, with bows and siemholes
followed out at a price pretty near cost Then
I'm going 10 give directions so that any man with a
bent for carving can orna nent his own pipe. Us
such a pity there shouldn't be more popular inter
'for no material lends itself to carving Ike meer-
sehaum Why nsysr see one or tnese h
beautiful form that lies within H. Here snatched
sketchbook and opened It's hound heal,
after Landseer; a group OF ia;Ien dngels HD On
Dore: a portrait head. carved from lfe-see ne
range OF subjects? 9ut Americans hayen,t generally
been successful. at neers shsun carving; our Des5
workmen have come from Germany-Nuremburs and
20 / know any mechanical way OF colorlng a
meerschaum? Oh. yes: have known man TO FIX
up small rubber bellows that was Kept gong Dy
a cloekwork attachment and. go dld ms smoking
for him. but much more common method IL TO
hire some constant smoker to use your pipe until II
gets the tint you want British ofhcers sometimes
distribute their meerschaums an ong their men for
this purpose. and on a long voyage passengers give
Some years ago We had customer. a rich Pc
us: he had about mfg pieces OF fine meerschaum
OF ne couldn't hope 10 co.or all those himse
twelve months he expected to stay here. SO he
asked me II ! knew anybody who would DO il for
him. introduced MIN TO one OF our workmen, a
young fellow. and the Peruvian turned over his pipes
To him. supplying him with a lot Of the very best
ana watch the man at his work He would sit and
admire the slow co.oring Of those pipes as an
you the beautiful rich hues come in. don't you?
Vel sir. sort Of friendship sprung up between
haps proprietary interest in his p!pe-co.orer and
started out by sending him to his own barber to be
sisted that the man should have hs teeth examined
a ai ne paid SO dentists bil for him He sen,
1T. he bought him Panama hat, and so on until
we figured that. with N-a-pound tobacco-and he
kept the fellow smoking all the t.me-and al the
rest OF his expenditures or that workman the
coloring Of those pipes cost him about $500 Then
he went back to Peru. and heard afterward that
he was killed in Australia. He ought to have re-
membered the workman in his will. TO make the ro-
nance complete: but this ia true story and can
say he did Perhaps he felt himself fully furnished
with pipes for this word and the next without any
requests"
Especially II he smoked the ghost OF his cut Cav
endish In his phantom meerschaum." suggested his
listener
"fe-es' said the other. who could apprecia te
jerome, too. But don't know about that. You
see he smoked most OF that cut Cavendish by
proxy.
Here's another story OF meerschaum coloring
The Duke Of Castelucca used TO De one Of nv Gus
toners. one Saturday ne came in and looked at
a nne meerschaum cgar-holder
That's handsome he said. But I want il
coored, can you have Il done for me on Monday
But Your Grace. said 'colOring takes fine
! couldn't have it done by Monday. A few
-" BAH he said. will bring IT to you on Mon
day as black as your coat
And he did. This is how he did IL. He went out
anc bought hundred long fve-cent cigars went
home and smoked them all day Sunday one aftcr
me other, until they gone. Sure enough the
noiqier, had a beautiful color. but he had nearly
spoiled MS teeth. and he admitted that ne wouldn't
do 1t again. One hundred ive-cent cigars in one
Jay was TOO much even for an Italian"