I went to the local Walgreens to pick up a prescription today and also picked up a Missouri Meerschaum corn cob pipe. Going to give it a try for a break during cigars.

Awesome!  It's really hard to go wrong with a MM corn cob pipe.  I imagine you got the Legend, which is one of their fairly small, varnished pipes.  If you like it, I recommend buying the Missouri Pride, which has a slightly bigger, natural bowl, allowing for an even cooler smoke (plus it remains cool in the hand).  The Missouri Pride is my personal favorite.

Ok, I will bite ...

I thought meerschaum meant the bowl was carved from a (usually) white porous rock.  Is it meerschaum carved to look like a corn cob?  Or is it actually corn cob with a confusing name?  

Quotekola - 8/17/2011  10:56 PM

Ok, I will bite ...

I thought meerschaum meant the bowl was carved from a (usually) white porous rock.  Is it meerschaum carved to look like a corn cob?  Or is it actually corn cob with a confusing name?  

From the Missouri Meerschaum website:

"The word Meerschaum is taken from a German word that means "sea foam". It is a Turkish clay used in high grade pipes. Tibbe likened his light, porous pipes and their cool smoke to that of the more expensive meerschaum pipes and coined the name "Missouri Meerschaum" for his pipes. Tibbe and a chemist friend devised an innovative system of applying a plaster-based substance to the outside of the corn cob bowls. In 1878, Tibbe patented this process."

Nice history. Thanks for the lesson!

I can say from experience that the Missouri Meerchaums are nice smoking little pipes.  Be patient in learning to smoke one and it will reward you.  Not that I know much about pipes, but I do know that.