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Romancing the Stone: Memorable Musings About Meerschaum: Difference between revisions

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Romancing the Stone: Memorable Musings About Meerschaum (view source)

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The debate about what meerschaum is and what to call it is very complicated. I do not intend to visit old assertions and beliefs, but I offer this short overview. Descriptors for meerschaum from assorted sources are cuttlefish, sepiolite, hydrous silicate of magnesia, magnesite, kreidemassen (German), fuller’s earth, Turkish earth, lületaşi (Turkish), keffekil/kefftil/kilkeffi (allegedly a Tatar word modified by the Turks), myrsen (of questionable origin), and poetic terms, such as white gold, curly stone, sea froth, scum of the sea, sea surf, and sea foam (in English, ''mere'' [a lake], and scum. Confused? Does the following help to clarify? “Meerschaum, then, as we need hardly perhaps explain, is German for Sea-foam. We English have made a naturalised citizen of the German word. Other countries have adopted it in translation only; and we confess to wishing we had done the same, and as the Plant suggested, had called our Meerschaums ‘Sea-foam Pipes.’ Not even this is an accurate version of the original native term,—Kill-Kéffi, which in English would be ‘Foam-clay;’ in German ''Schaumthon''” (''Cope’s Mixture, Cope’s Smoke Room Booklets. Number Eight'', 1893). If you’re keen to understand how so many could be so confused for so long about this mineral and what to call it, read my treatise “[[Meerschaum|Lost in Translation]]: The Linguistic Hodgepodge of Mg<sub>4</sub>Si<sub>6</sub>O<sub>15</sub>(OH)<sub>2</sub>·6H<sub>2</sub>O” on pipedia.org. And there are many (fairy) tales about when and how this medium came to be used for pipes that are not worth reprising here, because they are unfounded.
The debate about what meerschaum is and what to call it is very complicated. I do not intend to visit old assertions and beliefs, but I offer this short overview. Descriptors for meerschaum from assorted sources are cuttlefish, sepiolite, hydrous silicate of magnesia, magnesite, kreidemassen (German), fuller’s earth, Turkish earth, lületaşi (Turkish), keffekil/kefftil/kilkeffi (allegedly a Tatar word modified by the Turks), myrsen (of questionable origin), and poetic terms, such as white gold, curly stone, sea froth, scum of the sea, sea surf, and sea foam (in English, ''mere'' [a lake], and scum. Confused? Does the following help to clarify? “Meerschaum, then, as we need hardly perhaps explain, is German for Sea-foam. We English have made a naturalised citizen of the German word. Other countries have adopted it in translation only; and we confess to wishing we had done the same, and as the Plant suggested, had called our Meerschaums ‘Sea-foam Pipes.’ Not even this is an accurate version of the original native term,—Kill-Kéffi, which in English would be ‘Foam-clay;’ in German ''Schaumthon''” (''Cope’s Mixture, Cope’s Smoke Room Booklets. Number Eight'', 1893). If you’re keen to understand how so many could be so confused for so long about this mineral and what to call it, read my treatise “[[Lost in Translation: The Linguistic Hodgepodge of Mg4Si6O15(OH)2·6H2O]]” on pipedia.org. And there are many (fairy) tales about when and how this medium came to be used for pipes that are not worth reprising here, because they are unfounded.




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“The meerschaum is cherished by the true smoker with as much care as a pet child: when new, he covers it up in a little case of soft leather that it may not be scratched, and he smokes it regularly and with great caution, that it may take an equal colour throughout, and when at last it has obtained the much-esteemed nut-brown hue, with what pride does he exhibit and praise its beauty!” (John Paget, ''Hungary and Transylvania'', 1839).
“The meerschaum is cherished by the true smoker with as much care as a pet child: when new, he covers it up in a little case of soft leather that it may not be scratched, and he smokes it regularly and with great caution, that it may take an equal colour throughout, and when at last it has obtained the much-esteemed nut-brown hue, with what pride does he exhibit and praise its beauty!” (John Paget, ''Hungary and Transylvania'', 1839).
“Of all pipes, however, the meerschaum is the best. It is, without question, the finest bowl from which to inhale the balmy weed” (George T. Fischer et al., ''Smoking and Smokers'', 1845).
“Of all pipes, however, the meerschaum is the best. It is, without question, the finest bowl from which to inhale the balmy weed” (George T. Fischer et al., ''Smoking and Smokers'', 1845).




“They [meerschaum pipes] may be purchased at any price, according to size, quality, and workmanship, from a single shilling to L.30 or L.50, and even more. They already exist in millions and tens of millions; they form a part of every ''personnel'' of almost every breathing German man above the rank of a boor; they are part of every traveller’s equipment, go where he may; they are pushing the clay-pipes out of use on Holland, Belgium, and France; they have invaded Spain and Italy in irresistible numbers; and they inundate our own territories through their length and breadth” (“Tobacco-Pipes,” ''Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature Science and Arts'', Vol. V, Nos. 105–130, January–June 1856).         
“They [meerschaum pipes] may be purchased at any price, according to size, quality, and workmanship, from a single shilling to L.30 or L.50, and even more. They already exist in millions and tens of millions; they form a part of every ''personnel'' of almost every breathing German man above the rank of a boor; they are part of every traveller’s equipment, go where he may; they are pushing the clay-pipes out of use on Holland, Belgium, and France; they have invaded Spain and Italy in irresistible numbers; and they inundate our own territories through their length and breadth” (“Tobacco-Pipes,” ''Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature Science and Arts'', Vol. V, Nos. 105–130, January–June 1856).         


“Now I tell you a poem must be kept ''and'' used, like a meerschaum, or a violin. A poem is just as porous as the meerschaum; the more porous it is, the better.  …Certain things are good for nothing until they have been kept a long while and used. Of these I will name three,—meerschaum pipes, violins, and poems. The meerschaum comes to us without complexion or flavor, born of the sea foam, like Aphrodite, but colorless as ''pallida Mors'' herself.” …The meerschaum is but a poor affair until it has burned a thousand offerings to the cloud-compelling deities. …First a discoloration, then a stain, and at last a rich, glowing umber tint spreading over the whole surface. Nature true to her old brown autumnal hue, you see—as true in the fire of the meerschaum as in the sunshine of October!” (Oliver Wendell Holmes, “The Meerschaum,” 1858).
“Now I tell you a poem must be kept ''and'' used, like a meerschaum, or a violin. A poem is just as porous as the meerschaum; the more porous it is, the better.  …Certain things are good for nothing until they have been kept a long while and used. Of these I will name three,—meerschaum pipes, violins, and poems. The meerschaum comes to us without complexion or flavor, born of the sea foam, like Aphrodite, but colorless as ''pallida Mors'' herself.” …The meerschaum is but a poor affair until it has burned a thousand offerings to the cloud-compelling deities. …First a discoloration, then a stain, and at last a rich, glowing umber tint spreading over the whole surface. Nature true to her old brown autumnal hue, you see—as true in the fire of the meerschaum as in the sunshine of October!” (Oliver Wendell Holmes, “The Meerschaum,” 1858).
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“There is a ‘dainty dish’ used by the higher order of smokers, called the meerschaum pipe, which, when coloured by use a nutty brown with oil, valued at 5 to 10” (“The Price of Tobacco,” ''The Farmer’s Magazine'', Vol. 25, January to June, 1864).
“There is a ‘dainty dish’ used by the higher order of smokers, called the meerschaum pipe, which, when coloured by use a nutty brown with oil, valued at £5  to £10” (“The Price of Tobacco,” ''The Farmer’s Magazine'', Vol. 25, January to June, 1864).




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“While Anastasia plies her daily routine, her husband, the writer, takes a walk, pausing at times ‘to fill (with reverence) the meerschaum pipe, which is colouring as coyly as a sun-kissed peach’” (Robert Service, The Pretender, 1915).
“While Anastasia plies her daily routine, her husband, the writer, takes a walk, pausing at times ‘to fill (with reverence) the meerschaum pipe, which is colouring as coyly as a sun-kissed peach’” (Robert Service, The Pretender, 1915).
“One of the things which contributed largely to making smoking popular was beauty—the beauty of the meerschaum pipe” (1''00 Years With The Sutliff Tobacco Company'', 1948).
 
 
“One of the things which contributed largely to making smoking popular was beauty—the beauty of the meerschaum pipe” (''100 Years With The Sutliff Tobacco Company'', 1948).




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'''Poetry'''
'''Poetry'''


Isaac Hawkins Browne, ''A Pipe of Tobacco: In Imitation of Six Several Authors'' (1736) was the first book of pipe poetry. Since then, there have been several compilations including Walter Hamilton, ''A Lyttel Parcel of Poems and Parodyes in Praise of Tobacco'' (1889), Joseph Knight (comp.), Pipe and Pouch. ''The Smoker’s Own Book of Poetry'' (1894), an anthology of more than 130 poems about pipes, tobacco, and cigars, and several others published in the late 1800s and early 1900s. More than a century later, there’s still interest in pipe poetry: Hugh Morrison (ed.), ''The Pipe Smoker’s Companion: Poetry and Prose in Praise of the Pipe'' (2014).
Isaac Hawkins Browne, ''A Pipe of Tobacco: In Imitation of Six Several Authors'' (1736) was the first book of pipe poetry. Since then, there have been several compilations including Walter Hamilton, ''A Lyttel Parcel of Poems and Parodyes in Praise of Tobacco'' (1889), Joseph Knight (comp.), ''Pipe and Pouch. The Smoker’s Own Book of Poetry'' (1894), an anthology of more than 130 poems about pipes, tobacco, and cigars, and several others published in the late 1800s and early 1900s. More than a century later, there’s still interest in pipe poetry: Hugh Morrison (ed.), ''The Pipe Smoker’s Companion: Poetry and Prose in Praise of the Pipe'' (2014).




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[[Category:Ben Rapaport]]
[[Category:Ben Rapaport]][[Category:Meerschaum]]
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