Making the Morta Calabash

[TreverT]

I just finished up a little project for this month, making a calabash from sandblasted meerschaum with a removable morta bowl cup. If anyone is interested in how this went together, I posted a set of step-by-step pics on my pipe blog:
http://talbertpipes.blogspot.com/2011/0 ... abash.html

[TRS]

Holy sh*t, that is cool!

[KurtHuhn]

Not only does the guy have time to make a pipe from materials that nobody has ever tried, but he also manages to get me hooked on Zombie Lane - aaaannnddd he somehow reaches level 21 in the same game.

Curse you Talbert....

[TreverT]

Nah, I've just been playing it for a while. Em and I are both slightly hooked on it. I'm not far off getting the achievement of the chicken suit, so don't be surprised if you stop by and find me dressed as Big Bird.

[Nate]

That is pretty sweet Trever! I like your use of both materials, nice execution.

I have heard meerschaum is impossible to get, I'll look through the threads here about it, but is there somewhere it can be purchased?

*Edit* I realize there are 'carve your own' kits, but what if you want to start from scratch. I found a few threads that said Turkish meer is basically illegal to export and African meer is not as good (not too sure about that one), but wondered if this was till true?

[TreverT]

That is pretty sweet Trever! I like your use of both materials, nice execution.

I have heard meerschaum is impossible to get, I'll look through the threads here about it, but is there somewhere it can be purchased?

*Edit* I realize there are 'carve your own' kits, but what if you want to start from scratch. I found a few threads that said Turkish meer is basically illegal to export and African meer is not as good (not too sure about that one), but wondered if this was till true?

Turkish cannot be exported raw. I used Somalian. As far as "not as good" goes, that's up for grabs. It is not as pure white and creamy as Turkish - the surface is more granular and pitted, a bit like fine coral. That's why I sandblasted it. It does, however, smoke just as well - Often better, IMO. I've been smoking an earlier one I made for years now and it is one of my absolute favorite pipes to smoke. It's very rugged and durable, it smokes bone-dry, and it has colored more evenly than all of my Turkish meers. I think most of the attitude toward African meer is just snobbery, where people see it used on $45 factory pipes and sniff and assume it's low grade material. It really depends on what you do with it, just like briar.

[Nate]

That is pretty sweet Trever! I like your use of both materials, nice execution.

I have heard meerschaum is impossible to get, I'll look through the threads here about it, but is there somewhere it can be purchased?

*Edit* I realize there are 'carve your own' kits, but what if you want to start from scratch. I found a few threads that said Turkish meer is basically illegal to export and African meer is not as good (not too sure about that one), but wondered if this was till true?

Turkish cannot be exported raw. I used Somalian. As far as "not as good" goes, that's up for grabs. It is not as pure white and creamy as Turkish - the surface is more granular and pitted, a bit like fine coral. That's why I sandblasted it. It does, however, smoke just as well - Often better, IMO. I've been smoking an earlier one I made for years now and it is one of my absolute favorite pipes to smoke. It's very rugged and durable, it smokes bone-dry, and it has colored more evenly than all of my Turkish meers. I think most of the attitude toward African meer is just snobbery, where people see it used on $45 factory pipes and sniff and assume it's low grade material. It really depends on what you do with it, just like briar.

Thanks for the info and your thoughts on the differing sources and materials, that is good to know! And if that is Somalian, it looks fantastic! YOur experience smoking from it also lends credence to its quality. Thank you very much for your time, I really appreciate it!

[mathias65]

but he also manages to get me hooked on Zombie Lane - aaaannnddd he somehow reaches level 21 in the same game.

Curse you Talbert....

Zombie Lane Rocks!

I just sent you a FB friend request.

[TreverT]

but he also manages to get me hooked on Zombie Lane - aaaannnddd he somehow reaches level 21 in the same game.

Curse you Talbert....

Zombie Lane Rocks!

I just sent you a FB friend request.

Between that and Urban Dead, I get all the "5 minutes a day" online gaming action I need. In UD, my zombie mandrill continues to do his best to make the SE of the city a completely terrifying place for humans to be. When Zombie Mandrill breaks into your safehouse, it's going to be messy.

[TreverT]

Thanks for the info and your thoughts on the differing sources and materials, that is good to know! And if that is Somalian, it looks fantastic! YOur experience smoking from it also lends credence to its quality. Thank you very much for your time, I really appreciate it!

It only looks good because it is sandblasted. It doesn't work at all as smooth - That's the primary problem with African meer in general, it's not that it smokes badly, but that it's too rough to be pretty. If you try and sand it off smooth it ends up looking a lot like a sanded rock, full of small pits and grain. I'm really surprised no one has tried sandblasting the stuff before, to my knowledge.

[Nate]

It only looks good because it is sandblasted. It doesn't work at all as smooth - That's the primary problem with African meer in general, it's not that it smokes badly, but that it's too rough to be pretty. If you try and sand it off smooth it ends up looking a lot like a sanded rock, full of small pits and grain. I'm really surprised no one has tried sandblasting the stuff before, to my knowledge.

That is a nice finishing technique for it! Quite a handsome finish, I wonder how a blasted meer will color? Now I want one...

[Mike Messer]

Maybe your photo's don't show it, but your pipe looks consistently, creamy white.
Not to distract from your pipe, which is great looking, I think. I've never seen anything you made that wasn't (I don't want to borrow any money. I swear ).

Can you tell what kind of meershaum Arne Urup is using? He's Danish. Works exclusively in meer, I think?
The pipe of his, below, at bisgaard is selling for $185 USD, pretty cheap.
I thought the case was really cool, like a little hard-shell guitar case. He, also uses wooden stems, sometimes, but usually amber.

[TreverT]

It only looks good because it is sandblasted. It doesn't work at all as smooth - That's the primary problem with African meer in general, it's not that it smokes badly, but that it's too rough to be pretty. If you try and sand it off smooth it ends up looking a lot like a sanded rock, full of small pits and grain. I'm really surprised no one has tried sandblasting the stuff before, to my knowledge.

That is a nice finishing technique for it! Quite a handsome finish, I wonder how a blasted meer will color? Now I want one...

Well, you be the judge - The pipe in front is my own sandblasted Somali meer and the one in back is a Turkish meer. I've been smoking both roughly equally, since around 2005. The sandblasted one has actually colored more smoothly and evenly than the smooth, though it's not as dark in the darkest parts.

[Nate]

It only looks good because it is sandblasted. It doesn't work at all as smooth - That's the primary problem with African meer in general, it's not that it smokes badly, but that it's too rough to be pretty. If you try and sand it off smooth it ends up looking a lot like a sanded rock, full of small pits and grain. I'm really surprised no one has tried sandblasting the stuff before, to my knowledge.

That is a nice finishing technique for it! Quite a handsome finish, I wonder how a blasted meer will color? Now I want one...

Well, you be the judge - The pipe in front is my own sandblasted Somali meer and the one in back is a Turkish meer. I've been smoking both roughly equally, since around 2005. The sandblasted one has actually colored more smoothly and evenly than the smooth, though it's not as dark in the darkest parts.

Beautiful! I reckon with that coloring it is similar to the Barling meer, which I think look quite nice. Just needs a fumed rim! I really like the look of your sandblast finish of your meers, well done sir!

[TreverT]

Can you tell what kind of meershaum Arne Urup is using?

Other than by surface texture differences between African and Turkish, I'm not aware of any visual way to source meerschaum.

[Alan L]

That's probably the coolest thing I've seen in a long time.

I bet it'll smoke like an absolute dream.