Cosmic: No such thing as too picky. You know what you like, so go for it. You'll find one. No point in buying a pipe with which you are not totally enamored with. That's my style also.
My understanding is that the coloring bowls don't speed up the coloring process. The intent was to keep the top of the meerschaum from getting charring marks on rim as well as keeping the top part of the bowl from being colored faster than the rest of the pipe. They're suppose to help the pipe color evenly over the entire pipe. From what I've heard they slow the natural coloring process down. In my opinion it sounds like you're better off just smoking the pipe regularly and let the pipe do its thing naturally.
Resurrecting an old thread, but where the heck are these coloring bowls being sold? They are out of stock on a few websites which show up on a Google search.
Chris :puffpipe:
They've always been a bit hard to find. A week or two ago I was wondering if someone in turkey was still selling them on e and someone was, but for $125 which is a ridiculous amount. I would probably contact Altinok and ask him. I use one but I often ask myself why. It works quickly though.
I really enjoyed this whole post though... commentary and history alike! Just really fascinating stuff... perfect whilst contemplatively puffing along!
Just stick a silver six pence or dime at the bottom of the bowl or the wire screens used on 'pot pipes' and that will also work. People have been doing it for 100+ years long before coloring bowls were invented. I have written about it here and on my blog 'all things cutty' as well as showing pictures of some of the sh*t I have pulled out of the bottom of meerschaum bowls over the years.
I found this thread while searching for information on coloring bowls. Condorlover1 mentioned his blog post a couple of comments back that coins were often used to mimic the effect of a coloring bowl. Here’s a link.
His blog is quite interesting. I discovered it a few days ago researching a Meerschaum cutty from 1896 I just bought in an antique shop in Cullen, Scotland. Deeply colored and with an amber or amberite stem. BTW, what exactly is “amberite” condorlover1? Its draft hole is of the type where a hole was drilled at a slight downward angle at the bottom of the bowl to intersect the smoke channel in the shank. I suspect this was common in these Cutty pipes.