>>852062I own a couple of meerschaum pipes too, and their fragility is overstated. You don't want to drop them obviously, but neither are they glass. And they should be smoked, because they're great.
The best thing about meerschaum pipes is how true they smoke. You get all the flavors of the tobacco with no inherent flavor from the pipe-they cover nothing up, especially if you keep them clean.
Smoking an excellent tobacco in a good clean meerschaum is one of the things that every pipe smoker should experience. My first good bowlful of Royal Yacht in pic related was transcendent. I at once understood why people loved smoking.