Intentionally Blackening the Rim of a Meer to Imitate Van Cleef

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aspiring_sage

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 7, 2021
556
1,945
West of the Twin Cities, MN
I just pulled the trigger to buy my first meer. Waiting for it to arrive. It was difficult to swallow the price, most of my previous purchases have been cobs.

I had my eye on two styles:
The Lee Van Cleef style from the Dollars trilogy.
A meerschaum cutty.

I couldn't find any cutty pipes in meerschaum. I suspect a couple of forum members here own ALL of them. :cry:

The Van Cleef style looked good. I purchased one copying the shape, not the coloring. In the end, I maybe made the right choice. Color doesn't matter right? No, it does count for something.

Now I'm thinking I may intentionally blacken the rim by intentionally charring occasionally when lighting. I'm not sure it is a good idea, and am extra concerned since the pipe isn't cheap (to me).

As a hobby, I've done some pretty good fine woodworking and gunsmithing. I've got an OK set of skills, tools, and techniques. I could probably fix cosmetic damage myself, but that doesn't mean I want a project.

I've seen a lot of posts discussing how to get rid of char, but no info for intentionally blackening the rim. Anybody with experience have any tips? Anybody without experience want to throw out an opinion anyway?
 
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aspiring_sage

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 7, 2021
556
1,945
West of the Twin Cities, MN
That kind of blackening is done with intense heat, calcinining, and is likely done prior to waxing. I've never seen an uncalcined pipe color like that even antique ones that have suffered careless lighting.
"Calcining" is a word I've never heard before.
Obviously googling myself but, I'd be a fool not to ask. Your info on Meerschaum pipes is obviously more than just experiencial. Are there any easy links or references that you've found useful that you'd recommend for me to learn more about care/repair/creation specific to Meer? There is a lot of info on Meer with questionable accuracy, I'm hoping for a head-start so I don't fall for some of the foolish.
 
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warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,700
16,209
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
It was a movie prop. Maybe temporairliy colored, handled carefully, lit only for a quick take and then set aside. Probably sitting on a shelf somewhere, listed on an inventory, awaiting it's next quick movie appearance. Znc, quite possibly, it was simply an African meer and prop company purchased. Are you gona wear the hat and grow the pencil thin mustache? rotf
 
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Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,258
108,360
Are there any easy links or references that you've found useful that you'd recommend for me to learn more about care/repair/creation specific to Meer?
More superstition than fact floating around out there. What I know came from talking to a few Turkish carvers and forum meerschaum owners.

Always keep them cake free. This can be done by wiping the camber with a damp paper towel after smoking. Avoid bristle pipe cleaners as they can score the meerschaum.

The tans and pinks you see as you smoke a meerschaum are just the wax reacting to the warmth of the pipe. The real coloring doesn't happen until several hundred smokes and generally starts in the heel as a dark gray discoloration. Put off cleaning the pipe until ready to smoke again to give the pipe time to absorb the tars from the tobacco you just smoke to aid in coloring.

Don't be afraid to handle your pipe with clean hands and don't be afraid to smoke them frequently.

Aim for brands that no longer use screw in mortise and tenon inserts such as IMP, SRV, Altinay, and the newer AKBs.

20211101_020431.jpg20211101_020459.jpg20220130_191425.jpg
 

TheWhale13

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 12, 2021
803
3,417
Sweden
My meerschaum gets black around the top, I'm not scared to bring the lighter close to the rim. Anyways, I think that a (classic shape) meerschaum should have a blackened rim either way.
 

telescopes

Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
I have a Lee Van Cleef style Meerschaum and I can attest that it is block meerschaum. The mottled coloring is more than surface deep. It is a great smoking pipe. The rim is black, but not because of charring. Like the one in the movie, it looks intentional. I ordered my special order from leevancleefpipe.com and had it customized for what I was trying to find. The mottled appearance is something I don't believe most people can easily replicate - although now that I've written that, I am sure I'll see a response stating how easy it is to do. My advice when be to find a maker who specializes in this style of pipe and have them make what you are looking to buy.
 
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aspiring_sage

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 7, 2021
556
1,945
West of the Twin Cities, MN
My advice when be to find a maker who specializes in this style of pipe and have them make what you are looking to buy.
Thanks for the tip. I may try them out. I probably should have started with this thought process.

Originally, I was trying to buy from local shops, but they care little-to-none about tobacco pipe smoking, their focus is all other smoking.

Since the local shops were a bust: I tried sticking to sponsors of this forum, since it has been such a value to me. Meerschaum selection is a bit limited at present.

So I open my "acceptable vendors list" to those recommended by other forum members. Afraid of bad quality, wanting to support those that helped me.

Now in hindsight, I overthought the purchase at every step.
Isn't that what the forum is here for? To overthink the burning of tobacco?
 
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Jan 28, 2018
12,955
134,678
67
Sarasota, FL
As apparently was suggested, I'd send a photo to one or more Meer carvers of the look you are wanting to achieve. They apparently can color the wax to end up with any color you want. Seems possible if not logical they could color the top black. Doesn't fit my liking but it doesn't need to, you're the one who will be buying and smoking it. Occam's Razor, the simplest answer is often the right one.
 

aspiring_sage

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 7, 2021
556
1,945
West of the Twin Cities, MN
The pipe I ordered has already shipped. I'm not planning to return it unless it is cartoony big. I'll decide after I get it, but I probably should have done as telescopes and hoosierpipeguy suggested and just commissioned the pipe I want.

On the other hand, I'm a recovering DIYer and passable engineer/craftsman; it is hard to just drop the idea that I should do everything myself. Part of life is about making choices, screwing things up, etc...
 
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mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Van Cleef was so expert at looking evil, the details of the pipe barely mattered. He could look murderous eating a plate of food. If I recall, Eastwood even cast him as a good guy in one film just to expand his repertoire. With him, though, evil was high art.
 

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
9,604
14,671
That kind of blackening is done with intense heat, calcinining, and is likely done prior to waxing. I've never seen an uncalcined pipe color like that even antique ones that have suffered careless lighting.
Didn't you once post pics of a meer you had done this to or am I imagining things?