One of the world's oldest pipe-making mediums, meerschaum is prized for its flavor-neutral smoking properties, heat resistance, and ability to darken with warm tones of patina as it's smoked over time. Moreover, the mineral's malleable composition allows it to be carved into ornate figural motifs that depict animals, people, flowers, and skulls, for example, as well as more traditional pipe shapes. The whimsical, intricate renditions of meerschaum pipes amuse, perplex, scintillate, and arouse the imagination, the individual characterizations wide-ranging and beguiling. We've narrowed the more prevalent themes found in meerschaum pipe making to seven. Be prepared for an existential adventure.

Dragon Claw Clutching Object

Most often the claw is holding an egg or vase, this theme dating back centuries. One of the more popular motifs, former president of the Confederate States Jefferson Davis smoked a long-stemmed version. Here are some mind-bending considerations: Is the dragon clutching the egg protectively? Is it someone else's egg the serpent has purloined? If, so, why? Occasionally the dragon can be seen clutching a skull, mixing a couple of motifs, which leads us to...

Skulls

These pieces range from downright macabre, such as a scary Grim Reaper with his sunken cheeks and shroud, to menacing, toothsome demons, to ghoulishly grinning skulls (bandana-festooned, cackling pirates come to mind, often sporting well-coiffed hair or beards, which is bewildering). More than other figural pieces, meerschaum skulls are often stained a golden-tan color to emulate patination.

Animals

There are, naturally, oodles of animal themes. Big cats, usually lions and cougars, are popular. The Kings of the Jungle (why are lions called that? The African savanna is no jungle. Lions are not found in central and South America, where there are actual rainforests/jungles. But I digress...) are usually fashioned mid-snarl, their fangs showing, ears pinned back and displaying a handsome ruff. Cougars and panthers are often set among brush or rocks, or some sort of outcropping, and are ready to pounce on their prey, making for a more dynamic aesthetic. To give them their due, it's not just the kitties that get attention; meerschaum craftsmen give equal attention to the canine world. Dogs with floppy ears and loyal looks of devotion are equally prevalent, as are those with some sort of water fowl in their soft mouths, which is sure to appeal to hunters or those who are impressed by the dogs' natural instincts and training. Horses, too, make the list, the attention to detail astonishing. Hooves, manes, forelocks, expressive eyes, all depicted through lightweight meerschaum by creative artisans. Elephants are also portrayed, even occasionally carved so that the animal's heads are upside down, creating an interesting optical illusion.

Human/bust

Bearded men with stylishly coiffed facial hair and well-groomed heads are one of the most popular meerschaum depictions, their expressions often contemplative or wary, or occasionally amused. These fellows are often resplendent with fancy headdresses and are assumed to be warriors, though that could be a personal interpretation. Pirates, again, are often presented in meerschaum. Women are also seen, usually sans clothing, representing the figurehead on a ship for example, or are fashioned as mermaids sprawled on a beach boulder. Sometimes a man is also present, with the theme turning a bit titillating.

Laughing Bacchus

Bacchus is an ancient Roman god, synonymous with the Greek Dionysus. He's associated with the grape harvest, wine, fertility, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and pretty much all things associated with inebriated debauchery. A full-bearded Bacchus is one of the most commonly seen motifs in meerschaum. This god of good times is usually wearing a self-indulgent, tipsy grin, teeth showing, with clusters of grapes hanging down by his ears, his head crowned in grape leaves.

Floral

Nearly everyone loves flowers and the makers of meerschaum smoking instruments are no different, incorporating the theme into intricately detailed pieces. Usually rendered in full bloom, the petals and fronds promote a delicate, gentle disposition and a contrast to, for example, the often inebriated Bacchus mentioned above.

Lattice

Ornate lattice patterns carved into more traditionally shaped meerschaums present almost ethereal teardrop-shaped recesses in most versions; others present circular ornamentation. Like the floral motif, this theme embraces a bit more refinement of character and retains traditional shaping, the inlays also offering tactile enjoyment, not to mention being aesthetically pleasing.

There are many more meerschaum motifs than mentioned here but these seven are the most prolific and certainly among the most intriguing. Figural meerschaums have a loyal following, and rightly so, the lively aesthetics engaging and winsome. Equally appealing are the relative wallet-friendly prices associated with these Turkish wonders, so including a couple in your rotation, if you're so inclined, won't break the bank.