Great-granddad’s Meerschaum

[Rail Man]

No one in my immediate family smoked a pipe but my great grandfather did and luckily the meerschaum was kept and eventually passed on to me. He was born in Austria in 1877 and immigrated with is parents in 1882 to western Wisconsin. As a young man he homesteaded in North Dakota where he stayed until his death in 1954. Unfortunately it’s unknown when or where he acquired the pipe or what he smoked in it and there are no markings on the pipe. Given the color I’d say he smoked it quite a bit! Given its fragility I wouldn’t attempt to smoke it but it has a place to be displayed in my living room.

I do like the carving, a content pipe smoking man and his faithful dog.

 

[Brewdude]

What a great chunk of family history!

8)


Cheers,

RR

 

[Idlefellow]

Very cool! Beautiful pipe; thanks for sharing.

 

[Valdus]

Beautiful heirloom. I am not sure if I have the willpower to not try to smoke it.

 

[ftrplt]

RM, what's the condition of the amber (I think) stem! This will probably determine whether to smoke the pipe. The meer itself shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Rail Man]

Thanks everyone, it’s pretty neat to have a physical connection to a great grandfather that died 30 years before I was born, a lot different from just a photograph (which are also nice too).

As for the stem I don’t believe it’s amber, it seems to be some kind of synthetic material. It’s in good shape but would need a good cleaning to be smoked. Where it attaches to the shank it’s a bit loose, I don’t really want to try to separate it for fear of cracking something. It would be fun to smoke but it’s nice to just admire it too.

 

[ftrplt]

If not amber, good chance it's Bakelite. :cheers: FTRPLT