A beautiful meerschaum pipe in a very nice casket.
You should always use a meerschaum pipe very slow and with low temerature at the start. For it is intended to create a black layer of grime and condensate inside the pipe bowl. This will in further use work like a filter for the smoke and liquids. If the pipe gets too hot the first time in use, this layer can't occure and all good characteristics of the meerschaum pipe won't be deploy.

Meerschaum - or sepiolite - literally translated means "foam of the sea" has got nothing to do with the spume on water waves, but is a mineral resource that mostly appears in the eastern part of the Mediterranean. Especially in Turkey.
Because of its permeable and porous structure it is very popular for the fabrication of pipes. It is easy to form and to deal with. Additional to this it absorbes liquids very easily, wich is important for a good working pipe. In Turkey meerschaum pipes are almost completely manufactured. The filigrane shapes can't be produced by machines only. Sepiolite meanwhile has become so popular and rare, that the export of untreated sepiolite is prohibited by the turkish government. Just the export of meerschaum products is allowed or at least already treated material.