This is a pipe my father had, I have no idea where it came from or how long he had it, but I think it is very cool. The carving of the face is extremely detailed, it appears to have had the original stem removed and replaced by a different one at some time. It has not been well taken care of though, there are quite a few nicks and dings on it. I just use it as decoration now, it sits atop an antique radio along wiht some other old tobacciana stuff.
John L

Thats "with" some other tobacciana stuff.
John L

That is pretty cool. Is it a carving of Athena?

More importantly, have you smoked a bowl through it yet?

J

It looks like it might be a carving of Bacchus, Roman god of Wine.

The carving is of an American Indian, and yes I have smoked it once, but it didn't smoke very good. The stem had not been properly cleaned so it had a bitter taste to it and backed up easy. I have cleaned it thuroughly since, but not tried it again yet.
John L

that's a genuine antique meershaum.
wear a little cotton glove while smoking it or hold it only by the stem if you don't want it to change color.

Looks BEAUTIFUL

Is there any way to determine its age?
John L

I am not sure how to determine age, other than submitting to an expert. It looks like it is coloring well. From what I have read, no need for the glove treatment now. I once read about a salt/alcohol method to remove bad tastes from pipes. Don't know if it can be used on a meerschaum or not.

Anyway, nice pipe. Especially nice when you consider its heritage.

J

I've cleaned it better now, so it should smoke better. I am sure it was old when my dad got it, but was just wondering how old. The carving is exquisite, very detailed features on the face.

Yes I've heard of wearing gloves, as I understand it, its only for new meerschaums, it keeps fingerprints from developing while it is "coloring up".
John L

It will still take the color from the oils in your hand until it turns completely black (or so dark brown as to be indistingusihable from black) I would just hold it by the stem, since the single white glove does look kinda gay or could get you indicted in California if you dance well and resemble Diana Ross.

( I have meerschaums from 1974, although I don't smoke them much anymore, so I ahve some first hand experience in this area, but please don't misunderstand or take any oofense anybody, I'm not trying to blast anyone's advice here)

stapletonj,
By all means, I'm sure you know more than I. I am truly a novice when it comes to pipes. I was just going by the bits and pieces of info I picked up from different articles I read, and from what other novices have told me. I'm glad to find this out, even though I don't smoke this particular pipe, I do have a nice Bekler CAO that I want to smoke and take care of. Thanks
John L