Featured Pipe: Briar? Japanese? Tobacciana help wanted.

This would seem to be outside my collecting interests, but fits in with my fondness for small carved items like cameos, ojime and Zuni carvings. Plus price was right.

It was described as meerschaum, which it clearly is not, although perhaps a meerschaum bowl could be fitted into it. It is some kind of wood, surprisingly light in weight, losing a varnish-like coating. As can be seen, the amber mouthpiece has broken.

I'm wondering if it could be Japanese only because the Japanese clerk in the shop where I used to buy (Chinese knock off) ojime, answering my question about one of them, told me it was wearing traditional Japanese baby clothing. Just the same: like a hospital gown with a ruffle around the neck, backside exposed.

Realized in looking at the photos the little guy may have had a pipe of his own, to go with his bowl of bubble solution.


All I know is what I see. Can anyone tell me more?

 

This style case is typically European, and would usually be used for meerschaum pipes or cigar holders. Material is hard to discern from photos, but I see no wood grain, and would not be surprised if it was indeed meerschaum.
Others may well have better opinions than mine.

 

I have a large collection of clay pipes (over 300) I do have one carved pipe that fits the same description, I was told it was carved from natural asbestos, how true this is I don't know, I had only one pipe like this so I didn't research it any further but this one pipe neither fits meerschaum clay or wood. I would say your pipe was made in Germany, it doesn't look English or French leaving only Germany. BTW nice pipe

 

My guess is meerschaum or some similar stone or clay. There are woods like lime-wood and boxwood that will take very fine carving, but they're not up to use as smoking pipes.

Is the stem amber?

 

Thank you both for observations & comments. This is my third start at a reply. Did some more looking on line at both briar & meerschaum pipes. Visually, this one definitely much more like vintage/antique meerschaum. Have never handled genuine meerschaum, so don't know how it would compare on other properties. Know it is very light, never imagined it could be as light as this; the case weighs more.

It shows the tool marks of the carver, so think it is not clay & surely hope it is not asbestos!

The main thing that really puzzles me is how warm it is, even when first picked up, much more like wood than like clay or any kind of stone with which I have any familiarity. I keep examining places where it has chipped or is unpolished. Material exposed in chipped spots is almost like a cookie/biscuit in texture.

I have lost the light for any more photos today. If I can get any that do a better job of conveying the texture, will add them. Meanwhile, you might find it amusing to get a whiff of this.

 

Hello, Stuff. Yep, stem/mouthpiece is amber, snapped in 2 now. The pipe itself has broken where the stem went into it Will try to get a pic of that too. I like it mainly as a little carving. After seeing how inexpensive some very nice ones are, I am in serious danger of starting another collection, an impulse I will have to restrain.

 

High probability it is meerschaum!
What is puzzling is the uneven colour.
Perhaps a attempt to clean it, perhaps a lower quality bloc.
See there:
https://ourpastimes.com/identify-synthetic-meerschaum-pipes-8425038.html

 

I wouldn't clean it. It looks to me like it was originally stained, possibly hand painted, intentionally.

 

Totally forgot about your thread.
Anyway, I agree with other observations. Definitely European, with a European child. The stem is amber, as you said.
Probably Central European, the first meerschaum pipeheads were carved in Hungary. Carving also became popular in Austria, Germany and Denmark. Probably elsewhere as well, but those are the countries I remember from a visit to 'het Pijpenkabinet', a Dutch pipe museum. (The things I get up to.)
Your meerschaum is stained, probably with a vegetable oil, reddish is usually from nut oil. I would leave it as it is.
Meerschaum is a type of clay, called sepiolite.

You may be able to find more on the site of het Pijpenkabinet, they have an English language option, bottom of the page:
http://www.pijpenkabinet.nl/index-nl.html

 

Hi Everybody, Thanks for your thoughts & observations.

Just so, & I am going to use sepiolite now because it is easier to type.

The varnished appearance is one of the things that was leading me to think the pipe was some type of plant material. I can only compare it on appearance with pictures of others & this is the feature that most convinces me it is sepiolite. The book I gave you a whiff of above explains how these pipes develop this patina without the internal material also being stained, another thing that puzzled me. Here are some other old ones:

 

And here are additional pix of the tyke.


The aspects I still find amazing are how very light in weight it is, how very not-cool it is to the touch, & how extremely smooth it is, even against the teeth - natural pearls feel grittier - especially along the underside where it has darkened the most. Think age & heat must harden the wax until it is almost like lacquer.

 

It is certainly not in order to do anything that would change the patina. My cleaning question is what to do, if anything, about this:



Peering down into it at first thought it was just dust accumulated in crevices. Now I think it might be a mineral salt deposit that has leached out of the sepiolite; it resembles a bit the 'Byne's disease' that can develop on calcium carbonate-based materials. When I thought it was dust, was going to moisten a swab tip & see whether the worst of it would come out with light rubbing. The incrustation produced by the Byne's process is water soluble, so, even if not dust, this might also wipe off. Question is whether to leave it untouched as further evidence of age? Byne's is progressively destructive. What do we think about this?

 

One other photo I meant to add:

 

So glad I was able to provide some relief to your aching fingers.

I think you could be right. If it were mine, I would try to wipe it off. You have enough experience with sensitive materials not to try anything drastic.

 

You had to, didn't you. @kyratango will enjoy it.

 

Enjoyed " get a whiff of this " It so easy to get sidetracked with this alluring topic and I have already used up my allotted time for this forum. I must try to get back to that book at another time.