Somebody Please Clue Me In

[AJ]

As some of you are aware I've been buying a few GBD's lately and today I was on The Viking Club Pipes site and saw a 1950's meerschaum lined GBD. It was priced reasonably and I gave it some serious consideration. But wait a minute. It's meer lined. What's with this? GBD has a reputation of making great pipes from fine old briar. I mean that's why people are buying these old beauties. That old briar really adds to the taste of the tobacco, right?  So will someone please clue me in as to why GBD would make a pipe with an insulator between their great briar and tobacco and why someone would actually buy it? What am I missing here? I know meer is porous but does it allow the effects of the briar come through to the tobacco?  :scratch: 

AJ

 

[RDPipes]

As some of you are aware I've been buying a few GBD's lately and today I was on The Viking Club Pipes site and saw a 1950's meerschaum lined GBD. It was priced reasonably and I gave it some serious consideration. But wait a minute. It's meer lined. What's with this? GBD has a reputation of making great pipes from fine old briar. I mean that's why people are buying these old beauties. That old briar really adds to the taste of the tobacco, right?  So will someone please clue me in as to why GBD would make a pipe with an insulator between their great briar and tobacco and why someone would actually buy it? What am I missing here? I know meer is porous but does it allow the effects of the briar come through to the tobacco?  :scratch: 

AJ

I doubt that any juices or what ever you want to call them get through to the briar or vise versa and I too haven't a clue why they would do this except to bring interest of meer smokers. I have a Savinelli that has the same thing. And by the way, it's a rotten smoker.

 

[Fr_Tom]

With the disclaimer that I have never owned or smoked a meer-lined briar...

My understanding is that the meer-lined bowl gives the no-break-in smoke of meerschaum with the durability of briar. You don't worry about building cake. It is a slick feature your buddy's pipe does not have. There may be people out there who love them and don't smoke anything else. I have never run into one of them. If a pipe I liked (and could afford) had a meer-lined bowl, it would not make me any more or less likely to pull out the wallet.

 

[monbla256]

As some of you are aware I've been buying a few GBD's lately and today I was on The Viking Club Pipes site and saw a 1950's meerschaum lined GBD. It was priced reasonably and I gave it some serious consideration. But wait a minute. It's meer lined. What's with this? GBD has a reputation of making great pipes from fine old briar. I mean that's why people are buying these old beauties. That old briar really adds to the taste of the tobacco, right?  So will someone please clue me in as to why GBD would make a pipe with an insulator between their great briar and tobacco and why someone would actually buy it? What am I missing here? I know meer is porous but does it allow the effects of the briar come through to the tobacco?  :scratch: 

AJ

Meer lined pipes were a way for folks to get the smoking qualities of a meer bowl with the durability of a briar bowl for handleing. During the 50/60/70 just about ALL pipe manufacturers made 'em. I know some smokers who have several GBD, BBB and even some Comoy's that are meer lined and they love 'em. Since the briar bowl is OUTSIDE the meer inner bowl, you will not get ANY of the effects on the smoke that a briar will give, just the meer. get one and see what ya think :twisted: 

 

[mark]

I had a meer lined briar years ago, can't remember the brand but it smoked dry and I didn't have to worry about it being fragile. The briar didn't enter into the mix, just a shell to hold the meer.

 

[Idlefellow]

I could never see the advantages; instead of giving you the best of both meerschaum and briar, it appears to me that it would sort of cancel out the advantages of each. I viewed it as just another marketing gimmick, but then I've never owned one, so what do I know.

 

[Anonymous]

Monbla is right.  They were everywhere in both of our misspent youth.  It is one of those thing where one starts selling them and the rest wanted their share of the market for them.   Usually they were in the less expensive range with little thought or reason for fancy briar.  I am guessing most used the bottom rung of the briar they had for lined pipes.

@Idlefellow
The idea was a less expensive and durable pipe with Meer characteristics. It worked.

 

[Anonymous]

AJ,

I took a look at the pipe you mention.  As they went, that one is a big step above what was in most pipe shops.  Most of the M/B pipes were stained so dark it covered up the briar and they had glossy finishes.  That one is a stunner for grain.

I guess it is GBD trying for the higher end or one of the builds that picked up a flaw they fixed with the Meer insert.

A lot of the Meer/Bri pipes we saw were on the unimpressive side, as I said about how they were finished.  You took a nothing briar and added Meer that could be cosmetically flawed.  The result was a cheap cost of manufacture. Contrast that to a true, quality Meer that were certainly on the pricy side then. They sold then for about the $$$'s they go for now.

If you just want to just try any old one, I see them pop up on eBay for cheap.

 

[ftrplt]

Sold a bunch of these "meer-lined" pipes back in the 60's. They were a bit of a "fadish" thing for three decades or so. Also a good way to get rid of a lot of pressed meerschaum! I remember leather-covered ones also. Meer-briar-leather!! Some combo. But they sold. And, yes, many higher-end makers (GBD, Comoy, etc.) sold them as well as Kaywoodie, Dr. Grabow, etc. I owned one, the only pear-shaped pipe I ever had. Cruddy briar, fills out the whazzoo!! But it smoked OK due to the meer. I lost it in a move way back when; no great loss!!!!!! FTRPLT

 

[loneredtree]

I had one of the leather covered ones. I was a noob what did I know? It was heavy and fat and did not smoke well. Maybe it had to much insulation. I chucked it like so many of my early pipes. :joker: 

 

[docwatson]

I have several of the Kaywoodie meerschaum lined briars and they smoke like a dream. Also have a twin-bowl Kaywoodie which has the exterior Briar bowl and screw in Meerschaum bowl in a fitted clam shell hard case. It's more of a collectible to me and have never smoked it, but this one has an air space between each bowl. Pretty unique in its day. Like others have said, it was a fad during the late 1940's through the 60's.

 

[Natch]

I've owned two or three over the years and they all smoked hot.  The worst was a French one that was meer lines and wrapped on leather.  A very well insulated pipe, but I don't think that's what you want in a pipe?

Natch