Your Meerschaum Pipe 



Pipes in Various Stages 

 of Construction. Cut- 

 ting the Meerschaum 

 Is the First Step. Then 

 a Hole Is Drilled in the 

 Embryo Pipe-Head Into 

 Which the Future Bowl 

 of the Pipe — a Plug 

 Worked Up on a Nearby 

 Latht^MustFit. When 

 the Pipe Is Mounted On 

 This Part the Shaping 

 Process Is Commenced 



M1-:ERSCIIAUM pipc-makiiigisone 

 of the most interesting processes 

 of the American mid-west. In 

 normal times, the meerschaum comes 

 from al)roa(l. Just now, tiial export has 

 stopped, and the i)i[K'-niakers of Cincin- 

 nati get it from others at home — where- 

 ever it may be bought. It is sliipix-tl in 

 white blocks, resembling ivory. Hut the 

 substance is considerably whiter than 

 the usual elephant-tusk is an<l very 

 much lighter. In fact, the lightness of 



a gi\'en block of meerschaum is astonish- 

 ing. Handled for American manufac- 

 turers largely through New York com- 

 mission houses, most of the best meer- 

 schaum is brought from Turkey in 

 luirope. It arri\x's in little chests, or 

 kasten, within which each separate piece 

 of the substance is found securely 

 wrajiiXHl in cotton. Such meerschaum 

 is |)aid for by the numl)er of pieces. 

 Curiously enough, the dealers prefer 

 small pieces to large, since it takes an 



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