An Observation of the Coloring of Vintage Meerschaum

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Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,248
108,345
I probably should have said this earlier.

No one feel obligated to attempt this. I'm only doing it to satisfy a silly curiosity. Treat your pipes how you safely feel fit and should you decide to try this share your results!
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,759
13,783
Humansville Missouri
Even the waxless ones color. The carvers will even tell you that the primary purpose of the wax is to protect the soft meerschaum from blemishes.
The Charlie Rich looking pipe seller had some sample pipes sawed in half to shoe the ladies that flocked over to his shop which was next to a popular beauty salon.

They showed a progression of colors, and the looked like oreo cookies, only meerschaum pipes.

The best part was watching him compare the meerschaum with the Diamond rings on the prospective customer’s fingers.

The tag line was, the best assurance of a quality Diamond or meerschaum was a trusted seller, and the price paid.

If he ever missed a sale, I ever saw it.

 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,248
108,345
You left out the some of the quote. I diD try to clarify the results. ;)
I was just replying to the one sentence. The results you get from adding wax are only surface deep and can be wiped away with alcohol or a jeweler's cloth.
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,759
13,783
Humansville Missouri
There’s only about two toys in the entire world I want, and don’t have yet.

I want a long barreled Sharps with a color case hardened action with really nice walnut, and a ladder sight, in 45-70,,,,again. It’s the one gun out of many I’ve sold or traded want back enough to buy the next good one I see. Until then my Marlin Model 95 with cut rifling scratches my 45-70 itch. I may just put a Marble’s tang sight on my Marlin and call it good. I ain’t no Tom Selleck down under, anyhow.:)

The other toy is a thousand dollar grade CAO meerschaum pipe like the Charlie Rich doppelgänger smoked.

My mother introduced me to his shop, as the place where she bought my CAO meerschaum for my thirtieth birthday in 1988.

My mother was 62 in 1988, and the pipe seller must have been in his sixties as well. I’d driven Mama for a beauty appointment at the salon next door and for a couple of hours or so I had the privilege of watching the man work his trade.

It was set up exactly like a jewelry shop, on the south end where he sold meerschaums. Behind him were glass display counters with meerschaum pipes starting at about $100 on the bottom shelf to a thousand dollars, way up high.

The vast majority of the pipes were $200 to $400, in the middle.

The lady he was showing pipes, sat in a tall chair in the middle of the display, and beside her on a sort of island was the largest, most beautifully colored, and intricately carved Becker CAO meerschaum imaginable, which had every color of the rainbow colored on it.

The seller would inform the lady, that pipe was too large, and too delicate, to be carried about. He’d show the custom case for it the size of a violin case. Even that large a pipe used the same nylon joints he’d place on the island. In a low tone of voice he’d state every pipe he sold came with a free lifetime service and inspection policy and should those joints need replacement they would be serviced free.

At eye level behind him were a glorious display of $200 to $400 CAO pipes.

He’d take some for the lady’s inspection and explain about the mines, the carving, the grades, the qualities, and the timeless value of a fine meerschaum pipe. He had literature, those series of colored pipes sawn in two, and to top the show a handsome son with dark hair as his assistant,,,but the gray haired man was the smoothest and best salesman of maybe anything, I’ve ever seen.

There never was a woman that ever sat in that chair who’d been content with a $300 Diamond ring.

But she could buy a medium sized meerschaum her man could smoke when they went somewhere dressy, of the same quality as a thousand dollar grade meerschaum, only smaller.

Even at thirty my hair was starting to gray.

My mother came over to announce her hair was done, and after we left, she said it’s wise, that I never let my hair go gray, and you better hope you keep on graying, and then you may look like him, in due time.

I’ve never forgotten that good advice.


At least I could have his pipe, you know?
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,759
13,783
Humansville Missouri
By the late 1990s, a curious casualty of the cigar boom was the little shop across from Battlefield Mall in Springfield Missouri.

One day I went to the shop and the gray haired father wasn’t there, the son was in his place.

The ladies who had their hair done next door, were no longer there buying expensive meerschaum pipes.

Where the meerschaums had been, was a large humidor of cigars.

I asked where the father was, and his son said he’d retired to be with his new step mother, and she was ill and he needed her at home.

The son said that after the cigar boom, the ladies came in wanting cigars, but they’d only buy a few, and seemed angry the good ones cost over $5 each. They had no idea their men spent that much for those nasty smelling things.

So the clientele now was all men, hardly any women anymore.

My mother came over after she got her hair done, and heard the news the father was home nursing his new wife.

As we drove away she remarked that he had to be a very good man, to be so attentive to a sick wife when he had so many other options.

Maybe six months later Mama went back to get her hair done, and the man’s wife had died, but alas he’d already found another one, presumably healthier.

The early 2000 recession locked the doors for good.

Last time I looked, the beauty shop next door was still going strong.

 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,248
108,345
Oddly enough, I am having the opposite results. A while back, I removed a lot of cake from the bowl. Since then, the sides of the bowl are coloring nicely on my 30 + year meerschaum. This picture isn’t the best and doesn’t do it justice, but the coloring is happening faster now View attachment 186405
I don't normally say this, but if you're ever in the mood to sell that one, message me.
 

didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
9,891
31,598
34
Burlington WI
And I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but in all my years of building massive nickle sized cake, one thing I've noticed. After scraping it out, the "outside" of the cake farthest from the chamber wall, is the dryest and hardest. While the "inside" of the cake, the part touching the chamber walls, is usually still more moist. so again, this makes sense, if that moisture is just sitting underneath the heated cake all this time, it would give good opportunity for coloring.
 

didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
9,891
31,598
34
Burlington WI