meerschaum

Etymology

Borrowed from German Meerschaum (literally “sea foam”).

noun

1. (uncountable) A soft white mineral, chiefly used for smoking-pipes and cigar holders.
   He gazed around until on the lid of a spinet he spotted a promising collection of bottles, gin, whiskey, vermouth and sherry, mixed with violin bows, a flute, a toppling pile of books, six volumes of Grove's Dictionary mingled with paperback thrillers, a guitar without any strings, a pair of binoculars, a meerschaum pipe and a jar half-full of wasps and apricot jam. 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 14, in Crime out of Mind
2. (countable) A smoking-pipe made from meerschaum.
   At Paris, just after dark one gusty evening in the autumn of 18—, I was enjoying the twofold luxury of meditation and a meerschaum, in company with my friend C. Auguste Dupin, in his little back library, or book-closet, au troisiême, No. 33, Rue Dunôt, Faubourg St. Germain. 1831, Edgar Allan Poe, “The purloined letter”, in An edition of Poems