Meer Calabash

[pipemike]

I found this estate beauty in a "junk" store today. Just finished a 90-minute-long bowl of IF. I declare that this has been the best smoke I've ever had. Ever.

[Marksthx138]

Wow! That is a nice pipe. How much did you pay for it? Did you have to clean it much? I wish my local junk stores would get stuff like that. Puff on!

[RompinDonkey]

Great pipes aren't they? I also usually smoke Irish Flake in mine. The Bash just takes some of the Nic away, but keeps the full flavour.

[BillConnelly]

That's a serious pipe, lucky find.

[pipemike]

After picking the pipe up for the equivalent of around $60 I arrived home expecting to have to overhaul it completely.
Actually, it was in a very good state. Bit of stem polish and that was it.
One question though. How do you clean the gunk out of the gourd? There's a bit of really old pipe goo in there that was hard as hell. The bowl, however, was pristine. I suspect that this pipe hadn't been smoked for ages.
Actually, make it two questions: how do you keep the bowl clean - does it form cake like a briar?

[DerikC]

The only thing I could say would be clean it after every smoke, and be careful not to build a cake at all on meerschaum. Because I don't own a calabash though, I couldn't tell you how to effectively clean it or what the differences are on maintenance.