An Observation of the Coloring of Vintage Meerschaum

[didimauw]

I don't think this question was asked already in this thread (forgive me if it has), but is it just me or has anyone else noticed that antique meerschaum cheroot pipes almost always seem to have a very deep coloration? If so, wouldn't that go against the vote for building thick cake as best way to color meers (since cheroot pipes hold all the tobacco in the end cap/holder and not in the main body of the pipe, so presumably no cake is building up there)? Maybe it does all go back to back sperm whale oil...

Stop giving contradictory ideas! It's very confusing to me! Lol

I almost bought a meer cigarette holder today, just to see how it would color.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Wait... are we still talking about coffee?

 

[TheWhale13]

I don't think this question was asked already in this thread (forgive me if it has), but is it just me or has anyone else noticed that antique meerschaum cheroot pipes almost always seem to have a very deep coloration? If so, wouldn't that go against the vote for building thick cake as best way to color meers (since cheroot pipes hold all the tobacco in the end cap/holder and not in the main body of the pipe, so presumably no cake is building up there)? Maybe it does all go back to back sperm whale oil...

Maybe they are pre-colored? I think that there is no way that smoking a few cigars in a meerschaum would color it that way.

 

[TheWhale13]

And apparantly jojoba oil is really close to whale oil, so if a member with a bit of money and a pipe to spare would like to try it, I am definetly ready to see the results.

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

Wait... are we still talking about coffee?

If you put spermaceti in your coffee its not black coffee... I don't know how many times we have to go over this.

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

And apparantly jojoba oil is really close to whale oil, so if a member with a bit of money and a pipe to spare would like to try it, I am definetly ready to see the results.

Myself and few other people tried it a few years ago (not here on the forum, locally to me) it's does not make much of a difference.

 

[TheWhale13]

Myself and few other people tried it a few years ago (not here on the forum, locally to me) it's does not make much of a difference.

In that case, you could rule out the hypothesis that whale oil is the cause of antique coloring. Which leaves what? Better quality meerschaum? Different tobacco?

 

[MCJ]

I think we need to do what the aristocracy did in the old days -- hire a full-time professional meerschaum pipe smoker to do all the work...

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

In that case, you could rule out the hypothesis that whale oil is the cause of antique coloring. Which leaves what? Better quality meerschaum? Different tobacco?

No. Jojoba is "similar" to spermaceti, but it is not exactly the same. I also don't think it really makes all that much of a difference. My personal opinion is that the only way to color any meerschaum pipe is just to smoke the crap out of it. There is no perfect baccy for coloring, no perfect wax, no endangered animal goo, no white glove, no coloring bowl, cake/no cake. The vintage and antique pipes we see that are deeply colored are either A. Pre-colored or B. Heavily Smoked and thats it. Light/porous pipes color faster than dense/heavy ones. If your main goal is color a pipe, do what they did 100 years ago, smoke that pipe and that pipe only for the next 30-40years. Tobaccos with high oil contents will color a pipe slightly fast but the difference is marginal. Smoke a tobacco you like, otherwise whats the point.

 

[didimauw]

Wait... are we still talking about coffee?

We need restaurants that will clean your glasses as well.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I think we need to do what the aristocracy did in the old days -- hire a full-time professional meerschaum pipe smoker to do all the work...

Or just smoke them from the time you wake until you go to bed. I do.

 

[Uniquemeerschaum]

And apparantly jojoba oil is really close to whale oil, so if a member with a bit of money and a pipe to spare would like to try it, I am definetly ready to see the results.

Jojoba works like spermaceti but only when you mix it a little into beeswax cauldron.We tried it for one of my friend, he likes the results.I will ask for photos. Using it after on beeswax not make much difference from his experience probably not absorb it enough with that way.Disadvantage of jojoba;it really makes meerschaum harder thats why while using it carver have to be fast to make details.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I don't think this question was asked already in this thread (forgive me if it has), but is it just me or has anyone else noticed that antique meerschaum cheroot pipes almost always seem to have a very deep coloration? If so, wouldn't that go against the vote for building thick cake as best way to color meers (since cheroot pipes hold all the tobacco in the end cap/holder and not in the main body of the pipe, so presumably no cake is building up there)? Maybe it does all go back to back sperm whale oil...

Cake can build in the airways of heavily smoked pipes. I've had to drill out the drafts and mortises of several estate acquisitions.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Disadvantage of jojoba;it really makes meerschaum harder thats why while using it carver have to be fast to make details.

Isn't the wax applied post carving?

 

[Uniquemeerschaum]

Isn't the wax applied post carving?

It used in 2 stages first just after carving (when they return from sanding) while making details than again on it.

 

[Papamique]

They also oil cured Meerschaum. Whatever that process was I do not know.

 

[Chasing Embers]

@didimauw

37 smokes, 0 cleaning.

 

[condorlover1]

@Chasing Embers : Is that your Owl pipe?

 

[Chasing Embers]

@Chasing Embers : Is that your Owl pipe?

Yep!

Had to hold it at an angle as my camera kept trying to focus on the rim.

 

[jhowell]

So to get the authentic meerschaum coloring you are suggesting I have to give a 'hand party' to a fecking whale at my local aquarium? How does that work?

There is a bladder in a sperm whale's head that is filled with whale oil (spermaceti) that is thought to do with buoyancy. This is the whale oil that was used to coat meers - not to be confused with the "lamp oil" that was boiled out of whale blubber. As whales are protected, whale oil is no longer available (except for NASA, which has special dispensation to use it - they have been unable to find or make another lubricant that functions in space)

And apparantly jojoba oil is really close to whale oil, so if a member with a bit of money and a pipe to spare would like to try it, I am definetly ready to see the results.

Jojoba oil is "almost" identical chemically to spermaceti - with the exception that jojoba oil is liquid at room temperature while spermaceti is a solid at room temperature. I have tried it on meerschaum and don't see where it makes any difference...