Meerschaum pipe

However, meerschaum must be cool before a pipe can be cleaned, and briar must be rested after a few days of smoking, so the combination comes with some of the drawbacks of both materials.

The crudely shaped masses thus prepared are turned and carved, smoothed with glass-paper, heated in wax or stearine, and finally polished with bone-ash.

The shape is determined as the gourd grows by placing small blocks under the stem, forcing it into a gentle curve.

The mature gourd is cut and dried, then fitted with a cork gasket to receive a meerschaum bowl.

[1] The soft, white, earthy mineral from Långbanshyttan, in Värmland, Sweden, known as aphrodite (Greek: sea foam),[3][unreliable source?

[5] In Samuel Beckett's 1957 one-act play Endgame, while Hamm is narrating the story of the day when he adopted Clov, he mentions how he was smoking a meerschaum pipe, after lighting it with a vesta.

In the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms campaign setting, the legendary wizard Elminster is known for smoking a meerschaum pipe.