Upgrading the Missouri Meerschaum Country Gentleman

If you've watched any of my videos over the years you may have noticed that the Country Gentleman corn cob pipe from Missouri Meerschaum has always been one of my favorite pipes.  Unfortunately the Gent has never featured the hardwood plug in the bottom that's found on the more "premium" cobs, so it's possible that they might burn-through the bottom over time.

I've never personally had a burn-through, but seeing that the Country Gentleman pipe is the same price as the cobs that do have the plug, I've been bugging the folks at MM to add that as an improvement to the Gent for quite some time.

I am so happy to report that as of a few weeks ago the Country Gentleman now features a wooden plug!  (Pause for applause) 

On an interesting side note; last year as we were dealing with the "Incredible Shrinking Cobs of 2012" I pulled from our inventory what has got to be the smallest Country Gentleman ever made.  Fast forward to today as I was looking for an old Gent to picture next to a new one in order to show you the difference in the bottom and I fount that puny pipe.  Lick on the pic above to Biggie-Size it to see what the new plug looks like, and to give thanks that we haven't been seeing any small cobs like that recently.