Preferred Method for Waxing Meerschaum Pipes

I like the natural yellow beeswax best, but i guess its just the same. When i add beeswax to my pipes, i smoke my pipe first so it gets hot, then i add beeswax on. I use a heat gun to melt some wax on whipers or a cotton rag, then i just hold it around the pipe and let it melt into it. Lately, i have found that this way is good: I warm my pipe over a oven or other heat sources (you can also use a heat gun) just by holding in the stem, then i add melted beeswax on with a brush or q-tip. I let it cool down, and do the prosess again if needed. When it has cooled down and you see it has got to much wax, just warm it, and whipe of with a clean, white cotton rag. Then you get an even layer. At the end, when its cold, buff it with a cotton rag so it gets a nice polish.) Greatings from Norway.

Like Taazen, I heat my meers with a heat gun.
Then I pour melted beeswax into a container. I paint the melted wax on with a small brush. Heat the meer and wipe off excess. I go through this routine two-three times. After the meer has a good base of beeswax, I heat it one final time to make sure the wax is evenly distributed.
After cooling down I put the meer aside (back in its leather case) and leave it alone for a week, letting the wax soak and harden a bit.
Then I smoke the hound out of it for a week!

I use the yellow bees wax. I melt it in a small dedicated pot and apply it with a soft paint brush(don't want to scratch the pipe). I remove the stem and use a long pipe cleaner and knot the pipe cleaner inside the bowl so as to give me something to hold onto, the pipe cleaner coming out of the shank. I use a wine cork to seal the bowl so the wax doesn't get in the bowl. Then after applying the wax, holding the pipe cleaner coming out of the shank, I use a hair drier to heat the pipe and remove the wax buildup, drying until all the extra wax has dripped off the pipe. I don't use a cloth as I find they will scratch some of the better meers.

Great question. Had been wondering this myself.

Sorry, but the waxed pipes do not look like a naturally colored meer. They just look artificially colored with the wax. The wax is not bringing out color so much as imparting color. Which I do not have a problem with, it is your pipe after all, I just do not find them attractive or natural looking.

When I get a new meer I kick start the coloring by smoking it exclusively in the evenings for a few weeks, 2 to 3 bowls on average. After that it goes into my meer rotation of six and will get smoked three to five times a week, more or less. As I've written before I smoke meers at home exclusively, usually in the evening. If I'm home during the day culling photos and such they all get a work out.
I tried wax many years ago. I determined that it does not enhance nor speed coloring, it just layers the pipe with with wax imparting a wax color. Again, this is just my observations. I prefer pipes which are colored from inside with the residues of the incinerated tobacco.

Don't wish to rain on anyone's parade but Strambach pipes are compressed composite, not virgin block. The meerschaum chips and dust are bonded into blocks with a resin adhesive. This means they will not color significantly no matter how often they are smoked. Waxing will not aid in coloring though it might protect the surface.

Cultured meerschaum is made from the chemical components that make up the sepiolite. Just as good as the real thing.

Saying cultured meer is the same as mined is the equivalent of saying cultured pearls are the same as natural. May smoke as good I suppose. Natural meer varies in density and, I'm sure, in other ways. Cultured meer is uniform, may smoke the same but, I doubt the coloring will match natural, mined meerschaum, with the subtle changes of hue, splotches, etc. (edit: The chemical makeup may be the same but, the physical properties of natural meer are variable.)
I will suggest that one way to encourage meer coloring is to not be fastidious about cleaning same. I think, only an opinion mind you, that the quick wipe inside the bowl many like to do, likely slows the coloring process as tars and residue are removed before they can seep into the mineral. If I was to do this I would let the pipe cool and use a moistened paper towel or something similar.
Further, all of my meers were purchased over the years and were waxed in production. I've never noticed any loss of the original wax over the years. A couple of mine have been in my possession for 50+ years. I did apply wax to a couple at one time but, detected no change in the rate of coloring. I'm a firm believer that meers color at their own rate. One can add superficial color with dirty fingers, wax, etc. The honest to God real, internal coloring is a function of the individual pipe and meer's receptiveness to the coloring residues.
Only my opinion and so is not susceptible to being changed by others' experiences. I'm too old to discard my experiences by reading the experiences of others. :puffpipe: :rofl:

I am afraid I have to agree with Warren!

Do not be afraid! Rather, embrace the force! ::

It seems that meerschaum pipe coloration is mainly the result of several factors. One is amount of time the pipe is smoked: frequency, duration and number of decades. Another is composition of the coating on the pipe. Beeswax, spermaceti (oil from the sperm whale's "nasal" cavity, illegal by international law) and jojoba oil (chemically same or similar to speraceti) are believed by many to enhance coloration. Paraffin and stearin (a triglyceride derived from animal fat) produce a dull, muddy finish. Waxing a new pipe is an investment in future coloration. Rarely does it produce swift result. In my experience, the kind of tobacco smoked does not affect coloration but the amount of heat generated by aggressive smoking does. Smoke slowly and coolly if you want a meerschaum to color on the bowl. You are right: coloration speed varies from pipe to pipe. I have a pipe purchased in the mid-1970s that only began coloring within the last few years while another, also purchased new, is coloring beautifully in less than 15 years. Waxing with a beeswax-jojoba paste had nearly immediate results on an Ulmer variant that is nearly identical in design to one in the Amsterdam Pipe Museum that is estimated to be 120 years old. The pipe was dirty and the chamber was clogged with a thick carbon cake. The bowl was cream colored. After cleaning and waxing the bowl's color was significantly darker. It continued to darken up to sixteen months of regular (weekly) use but has not noticeably progressed since then. It therefore appears that re-waxing benefits the coloration of pipes that have been smoked for several decades more than it does new pipes. I have never been successful in downloading images unto this site. However, you can see a composite of the progression at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/41273109@N02/16067109323/in/album-72157632472761650/