The San Francisco call., 1903-12-07
INSTRUCTIVE CTUDEng
By YINOTED4AifEEsZN AND
IESSN1EN
and the woman will be unknown who
does not wish to marry.
about Pipes.

Christmas shoppers. keen-eyed for
novelties, paused before the holly
wreathed placard. the center of attrac-
tion in the window display of the to-
bacco dealer, which read: "Hydrated
silicate Of magnesium pipes-the new
fad"
Within the store long showcase was
filled with polished, carved cream-col-
ored pipes. all of them beautiful speci-
mems Of the pipe carver's art. Some
were labeled 'hydrated silicate of mag
nesium," others "seafoam," "ecume de
mer" and 'sepiolite."
Why, they are all meerschaum," ex-
claimed the man whose curiosity, ex-
cited by the window placard, had led
him into the store.
That's right" cheerfully responded
the tobacconist, they're all meer-
schaum. You never knew before, did
you. that the bowl which you have
been trying to color for year is only a
chunk of hydrated silicate of mag
nesium, a bit of sepiolite, a piece of
ecume de mer, a fragment of seafoam?
You thought it was only meerschaum.
And you didn't know that your favor
ite meerschaum pipe came from the
bowels of the earth, dug $50 feet under
ground by a d-fezzed Turk in Asia
Minor. And you never would guess
that in Morocco the boys with the
baggy trousers use meerschaum for
soap and that in Madrid they build
houses of the same stuff 1 didn't,
either, until last summer when I was
in Constantinople and was told they
dug 'ham-tash' out Of mines not far
away, and that if I went to a town
called Esld Shehier over in Asia Minor
any Friday 1 could buy the raw
meerschaum direct from the mines. 1
had been selling meerschaum pipes for
years and had always believed that
the clay-as I thought it was-came
from Vienna. Since my visit to Eski
Shehier my respect and regard for the
meerschaum pipe have greatly in
creased.
Il was told that meerschaum had
been dug from the ground around Eski
Shehier for more than 1000 years and
that there was an inexhaustible sup
ply of the magnesium. In one district
over 5000 mines or pits have been
opened and in another district the num-
Der Of holes in the ground from which
meerschaum has been taken run over
10000. The meerschaum is found in
a layer of red clay all the way from
twenty-five to $50 feet beneath the sur
face. The Turks do not use any up-to-
date machinery to dig the chunks Of
meerschaum. They pick out a likely
spot and then a dozen or so begin dig
ging with pickaxes and shovels. They
keep digging-not a shaft, but a pit
until they reach the red clay. Then
they tunnel in, sometimes as far as
quarter of a mile. They work night and
day extracting the blocks of meer-
schaum. These blocks are scattered
through the red clay, the Jumps rang
ing in size from pieces as big as a small
egg to chunks a foot cube. The Jumps
are kidney shaped and when found are
covered with a thick envelope of the red
clay. They are carried out to(the pit,
lifted to the ground and stacked up
in the huts of the miners. They are
taken TO Eski Shehier every Friday,
where they are sold to agents who con-
gregate in the town every week
THE nam-tash, as the rough, un-
treated blocks are called, is white, with
yellow tint, and so soft that it can be
easily scratched with the finger nail
The red clay is removed and the meer-
schaum dried before it is shipped to
Constantinople. In summer the blocks
are exposed to the sun for five or six
days, but in winter they are deied for
eight or ten days in a stove-heated
room. When dried the blocks are
1
wrapped in cotton and packed for ship
ment. Most of it finds it's way to vi
emma, but lately Americans have gone
to the mines to buy direct from the
miners, for the meerschaum is growing
in popularity in this country. The fin-
est Of the kidney-shaped chunks event.
ually find their way to this country;
not in the rough, however, but in the
form Of fine pipes. Almost 200 tons Of
meerschaum is mined in the Eski She
hier each year.
THE best merchaum pipes are made
in Vienna, and there the pipe bowls.
after being turned or carved, are pol
ished and then boiled in wax or some
preparation Of paraffin. The bowls
are again polished and then are ready
TO be coiored by the smoker.
"Of course the only kind of a mouth
piece TO use with a meerchaum pipe is
amber The principal source of supply
Of meerchaum is in the country border
ing the Black Sea; the principal source
Of amber is on the shores of the Baltic
/ Sea, where the fossilized gum is dug
out, sometimes one hundred feet below
the surface. After heavy storms on the
Baltic, pieces Of amber are cast ashore
by the waves. showing that the amber
vein extends under the water. The am
Der blocks are sawed into pieces suit
/ able for pipe stems by an extremely
thin saw. The blocks are sawed on a
! taper and are four-sided. The beauti-
full translucent material is worked up
into pipe stems by a 'bernsteindrech-
sier' or amber worker, and the best Of
them are in Germany.
THE amber pipe stems and mouth
pieces are made in foot power lathe
and much skill is required to shape,
twist and drill the brittle material
! Amber will crack If a hole 10 horad