Cut it in half!!!!!!!!;
Coloring Progress Over Time/No of Bowls in one Meerschaum Pipe
- Thread starter cshubhra
- Start date
Well, you're not wrong. ?
I was thinking hitting it with hot air from a blow dryer or heat gun to see if the color ran, or a wax dip. A band saw is certainly an option though!
Every meerschaum colors in its own way. Obviously, there are many factors that figure in to the outcome. I have a lot of experience with meerschaum pipes (Baki, Bekler, CAO, IMP, Altinok, Gulel …) and every one is unique in how it colors.
I haven’t treated my meer very well and it’s all scratched up. I thought I’d put some wax on a spot where I’m sure the wax was scraped off. That is when I saw the slight brown ring.
After heating it with a blow dryer, adding a little beeswax, and rubbing with a cloth: It seems that the blackened rim is now diluted down and the rest of my mirror is a little less white. The ring around the heel is still a little darker than the rest. I’m surprised.
It is very slight. Still interesting.
Can’t see much in my pictures...
Looking forward to watching this thread and seeing @cshubhra ’s progress!
After heating it with a blow dryer, adding a little beeswax, and rubbing with a cloth: It seems that the blackened rim is now diluted down and the rest of my mirror is a little less white. The ring around the heel is still a little darker than the rest. I’m surprised.
It is very slight. Still interesting.
Can’t see much in my pictures...
Looking forward to watching this thread and seeing @cshubhra ’s progress!
It takes a lot of bowls … that is why I am smoking it exclusively to give it a fighting chance.
I don't think I can keep up with 3 bowls per day, so I appreciate your consistency. Giving me a glimpse into my future.
How many bowls are you on now? And have you given it the "coloring rest"? Will you also be weighing it?
I've been aggressively smoking my Nate King meer for about 3 years now and have made some notes on how the pipe colored over time. Weight-wise I think what little addition the absorbed oils have been canceled out by loss of meerschaum material due to nicks and scrapes - for example: the straight cut inner edges of the bowl have become rounded over time.
I've read that translucent meers color quite differently and I have to say yours is coming along so very beautifully.
That stem there looks excellent. Mine colored from the stem first too and then the bowl started to 'split', about half way down the bowl it's starting to gather color and become a distinctly darker beige/cream.
Here's a comparison to my stem:
I've been aggressively smoking my Nate King meer for about 3 years now and have made some notes on how the pipe colored over time. Weight-wise I think what little addition the absorbed oils have been canceled out by loss of meerschaum material due to nicks and scrapes - for example: the straight cut inner edges of the bowl have become rounded over time.
I've read that translucent meers color quite differently and I have to say yours is coming along so very beautifully.
That stem there looks excellent. Mine colored from the stem first too and then the bowl started to 'split', about half way down the bowl it's starting to gather color and become a distinctly darker beige/cream.
Here's a comparison to my stem:
I mentioned it in my previous post but look up this "coloring rest" - I've long read years ago that after a period of heavy usage, if you put the pipe away for 1-2 weeks, the rest 'settles' in some deeper colors.
Sounds like some olde country voodoo but give it a try and see if it does anything for your pipe.
That one's a bit of a myth.
This was done with three months of continuous smoking. Other than when filled with tobacco, it weighs the same as what it was listed as new.
My problem with this is I just don't like the way meerschaums smoke. It would take me 500 years to get one show any type of coloration. I'll leave these to my betters to smoke and make beautiful.
If they have a wide open draw without those cheap plastic screw in inserts, once broken in, I don't notice much difference in smoking them versus a briar.
I've found meers don't smoke much different than briars once a little cake is built up. I enjoy them because they're lighter and am interested to see how mine color over time. I think if someone smoked identical tobacco from a meer and a briar that had identical geometries, very few if any could accurately pick one from the other if they were blindfolded.
I am smoking bowl 58 right now as I type. This week I am traveling so when I post a picture next week, it would be around 70 bowls.How many bowls are you on now? And have you given it the "coloring rest"? Will you also be weighing it?
I've been aggressively smoking my Nate King meer for about 3 years now and have made some notes on how the pipe colored over time. Weight-wise I think what little addition the absorbed oils have been canceled out by loss of meerschaum material due to nicks and scrapes - for example: the straight cut inner edges of the bowl have become rounded over time.
I've read that translucent meers color quite differently and I have to say yours is coming along so very beautifully.
That stem there looks excellent. Mine colored from the stem first too and then the bowl started to 'split', about half way down the bowl it's starting to gather color and become a distinctly darker beige/cream.
Here's a comparison to my stem:
I don’t have a kitchen scale so no weighing, but I am sure it will not increase significantly over the number of bowls I would reasonably smoke. In my opinion the number of bowls which may show a measurable increase will be in tens of thousands (If at all)
I have read something similar to the coloring rest in the Peterson pipe book. It stated that if the meerschaum is coloring black, a rest would even out the color to an amber/red tone.
While I am not planning to rest it yet, it will still get 4 nights rest as I am traveling to Orlando for an educational event for my son and will not carry a pipe.
Some meerschaum pipes have a tight draw. I was never bothered about that, but I would smoke them less often. This one has a wide open draw and smokes equally good as the best briar pipes I own.
So when meerschaum pipe changes its colour its because of the beeswax is becoming brown instead that the whole pipe is changing its colour.
The 'exploded diagram' meerschaum pipe from Embers is a true classic of forum posts. I have kept that picture not only for reference purposes when dealing with people that insist that you wax your meerschaums and lord know what else but simply because it is straight out of a 'Monty Python does Pipes Magazine' episode. You could see Gumby from Monty Python with a band saw cutting a Dunhill pipe in half.....
Nah, the beeswax discolors from just a few smokes in pinks, tan, and browns usually around the shank from the warmth of smoking and handling. That coloring can fade if the pipe isn't used for long periods of time and can be totally removed if dipped in hot wax or heated with a heat gun and allowed to drip off. The material itself will begin to show permanent coloring as the tobacco oils seep through the meerschaum after many, read hundreds, of smokes usually at the heel of the pipe and spread from there.
Oh man, here we go again. You repeat this over and over but it's simply not true. The tobacco juices cool and condense in the shank and are deposited there. I don't handle the shank of my pipe and it's definitely not the warmest place on my pipe, hence the condensing.
See the above photo or heat that one with a heat gun. That color isn't coming from the inside.