Turks do a lot of advertising lately, since the demand is rising. But market habits in this part of the world are somewhat different than in the US. Here the fraud is an ethical thing. Where I live was part of the ottoman empire for 500 years, and is just 300 miles far from Istambul.
In Kapali Carsi market in Istambul there's an abundance of meer pipes starting at $10 and even less. But almost all of them are fake. The consistence is the same as in block meerschaum, weight is the same, they even cover the inside of the bowl with some substance so your finger can stick to the surface when you lick it (that's one of the methods to check if it's block) . They all swear it's a block meerschaum. Most of those pipes come from Eskisehir, the only place left on earth where meer is mined and pipes are crafted, and they're all fake. There's more meerschaum left in the process of carving than in the pipe itself. All that meer is been reused, grinded to dust, and pressed in blocks again. For every block pipe that leaves Eskisehir come about 4-5 fake ones. And they're so good at faking, you have to be really professional to tell the difference. It even catches the color, but smoking experience is like smoking from a plastic bowl.
I've had fakes, and I've had block. Nothing in common.
If your pipe costs less than $100, then it's very likely that it's pressed meerschaum, not block.
The safer alternative is to go with African, I personally prefer them over the turkish. It gets nice patterns all over the pipe, has vintage appeal and gets orange-reddish-brown all over like peace of art. And the most important thing, it's porous and delivers just as good smoke as the turkish blocks, if not better.
