Will this pipe work?

[Ropey]

Thanks for the replies. I read that, for the first few smokes, a meerschaum should be held by the stem while hot. Something to do with the beeswax. Does this sound right?

[Ropey]

Update:

Ok so I figured the new pipe would want a friend so I spent $35 on an inexpensive briar, just in case I drop the meerschaum or decide I wanna smoke "out and about" or just want something different. Pics below:





As you can see I like the half bent apple shape LOL.. for some reason it just says "pipe" to me. (Although the two in this thread have a sort of billiard-esque shape to them if I'm not mistaken.)

Though if I ever get a third, I think it'll be a straight billiard.. that's another iconic look I like. I think my old college Dr. Grabow was a straight (x)bulldog(x) rhodesian. Wonder if I still have that buried in boxes somewhere?

Anyway, hope this one doesn't suck either. It's a "Molina" which I've never heard of.

[mooster]

Thanks for the replies. I read that, for the first few smokes, a meerschaum should be held by the stem while hot. Something to do with the beeswax. Does this sound right?

My technique has been to carefully handle the pipe by the stem until I do something to screw up the pipe (appearance wise), then I just treat it like another pipe. It depends on how much of a slave you want to be to the pipe. Touching the bowl while it's hot can lead to fingerprints in the beeswax, or removing spots of beeswax which leads to uneven coloring, but doesn't affect the smoking at all. And you can always rewax the pipe later if you wish.