Calloused Hands And Meer Pipes

[Chasing Embers]

I have very rough hands from years of farm, factory, and general manual work. Have been noticing small surface scratches on my meers, and was wondering if beeswax could fix it, or should I just say, "To hell with it", and just enjoy smoking them?

 

[seacaptain]

My opinion - just enjoy them and don't give it a second thought. :puffpipe:

 

[Chasing Embers]

My thinking too. ::

 

[lostandfound]

Agreed!

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

I am very sorry to inform you that due to your extremely rough hands, you are only going to continue to damage your meers. Eventually, the scratches will become deeper and you risk serious damage to your pipes. The only possible suggestion I can give you to save your pipes before the damage is too great is to send them to me for safe keeping. Do the right thing, Chasingembers... save your pipes, man. And let me help you save them.
:D

 

[Chasing Embers]

@anthony

:rofl:

 

[xrundog]

Beeswax won't fix that. A little wear from use is usually referred to as "character". A little bit is not a bad thing.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Good to know. Really never noticed it on a claw that I have. Guessing that all of the ornate carving on it made it hard to notice. My smooth ones really can't hide it.

 

[gloucesterman]

Meers can be re-waxed when needed but it's an involved process that should probably be postponed until it's really needed. I've known some really fussy guys that used band aids on their fingers to prevent staining when they smoked meers. Might be a solution if you think your hands are doing the damage. But somehow you don't seem like a guy that's fussy.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Not at all brother. Though my wife says that I'm awfully picky about my moustache. :mrgreen:

 

[pipinho]

put a heavy wax on your meers, that should help prevent scratching

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I'm not sure if wax does any good on callouses. ::

 

[pipinho]

(this is all IMHO) it's not about the hands, it's about giving the meer more structural support with the wax. If you saturate the meer with enough wax to the point that you can see a shine on the surface on the pipe it won't scratch as easily (at least from my experience).

 

[stvalentine]

I once wore white cotton gloves when smoking my meer. Too much fuzz for me now, I just grab it and if I add "character" unintentionally to it I am fine with it too....

 

[posaydal]

IF you want to remove scratches there is only one way to do it, but it won't prevent new ones from emerging. First, you need to remove all wax and dirt from surface of the pipe. Best is to dump cloth in 92% isopropyl alco and gently clean your pipe. next to do is to sand pipe with some fine sand paper, i usually start with 800, then go up till i get to 4000, and after that i start polishing it with polishing pads. After that you need to rewax it, but it needs to be "boiled" in molten bees wax for 8-12 mins (from personal experience). Excess was can be removed with hair dryer, just be careful not to overheat pipe with it. It should be as good as new after that, it will only color during the process (if you use yellow, unrefined bees wax it will color a lot, but some of the color will disappear after time).

As i said, this can remove scratches, but it wont prevent new scratches. As much wax you put on pipe, it wont prevent scratches, it will only prevent cracking from smoking or dropping it. If you won't wear gloves, i strongly recommend you not to do all of the above since its a bit time consuming with a mild posibility for pipe damaging.

I do this to my meers every couple of years, but i don't fuss over scratches and dings, they give pipes some character, imo.

From my point of view, worrying about those will only make you not enjoy smoking as much as you would otherwise since, again imo, there is no way to avoid them. And more you try to avoid them, more they will annoy you when they appear (and they will).

So, for conclusion, just enjoy smoking. Cheers, mate!