Kiko 102 Kilimanjaro African Meerschaum Pipe, Tanganyika Period (1961 - 64)
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:27259315 | Brand: Kiko |
| Country/Region of Manufacture: Tanzania, United Republic of | Featured Refinements: Vintage Smoking Pipe |
This Kiko 102 is an imposing billiard that smokes like a dream. The thick meerschaum liner and generous shell of African blackwood gives it its excellent smoking qualities. A little oxidation from age. Rhino logo present on stem but clocked wrong. Repaired crack on top of bowl and some stable condition racking in meer lining._____________________________Meerschaum, the mineral sapiolite, was used in Turkey for centuries to produce pipes as it is today. But the African meerschaum is gon...e. A meerschaum deposit was found in Tanzania in 1955 in the area around Kilimanjaro and Lake Amboseli and used from the early 1960s until 2001, when the vein was exhausted. Thus these pipes are both splendid smokes and very collectible. The supply is limited and will not be renewed. Demand is growing. That is a formula for a profitable collectible. The deposit in Africa differed from Turkish sapiolite, being heavier, less fragile and less porous. The smoking qualities are the same or better:- No ghosting of tobacco because the smoker removes all cake from the pipe between smokes- No need to let the pipe cool for 48 hours like a briar. When it is room temperature again it is ready to smoke- The full flavor of the tobacco comes through, once again because there is no cake that accumulates old flavors.- No need to have separate pipes for English, aromatic and VaPer tobaccos. No ghosting thus no need.
