This is what i have been confused about this entire time, but i think it has for whatever reason more to do with the smoke cooling and the nature of the condensation that builds up in the cooling process. Also, i no longer care. ?
Coloring Progress Over Time/No of Bowls in one Meerschaum Pipe
- Thread starter cshubhra
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I need to get some cheap meerschaum for tests...I would slowly cook it submerged in molasses mixed with alcohol for a week and see if any coloring changes happening..would took it out and put in cold temp for condensation and again...
If meershaum is a sponge and juices are leaking through it basicaly the wax is holding them in like a barrier and they slowly bake themselfs into the pores..without wax the juices may escape to the air from outside of the pipe
It belonged to one of the Detectives who investigated the Whitechapel Murders - if it had belonged to the 'Ripper' we would have known his identity. Maybe if he did smoke a pipe his preferred blend was Battle Axe...
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An unwaxed one will color just fine. Even meerschaum carvers will tell you that the wax is just there to protect the material from minor scratches.
Yes.
No need! What happens when you fill the chamber with warm to hot water is it brings out a bunch of color immediately. As the pipe dries it fades. Good way to see how the color will eventually appear.I'm still wondering if perhaps filling a freshly smoked bowl with water and letting it sit, accelerates the process.
Please don't take this as another challenge to cut one up
The Bacchus was gifted to a friend long ago. That's the only picture I have. Perhaps you will like this one. It was well colored when I got it, but has continued to color darker. It has an oriface stem to give you an idea of age.
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I'll suggest one last time: Leave wax out of all equations.
That seems to be the accepted mantra, but would a heat gun blow off that coloring or is the meerschaum itself colored?
I'm convinced that it wouldn't go away, because the heat from smoking does not remove any coloring in any way? It would be a fun experiment though.
That gently warms the wax. A heat gun instantly liquefies it and can blow it around on the surface of the meerschaum causing colored streaks. Just wondering if it is only discolored wax.
This might be a silly question, but would a completely colored meerschaum lose its ability to provide a drier smoke, since the block's pores are now pretty well saturated and no longer as absorbent as a new pipe?
Even a new meerschaum can gurgle. Completely colored ones would probably take smoking it exclusively for a lifetime.
The original intent of this thread was for me to post pictures of my pipe over time / over number of bowls. This creates a record of progress for one pipe.
The discussion of coloring is healthy … but sometimes it is risking locking of this thread. If this thread gets locked, I have to start from the beginning again.
Please do me a favor … discuss / debate logically like a man or woman of science does and keep emotions out.
The discussion of coloring is healthy … but sometimes it is risking locking of this thread. If this thread gets locked, I have to start from the beginning again.
Please do me a favor … discuss / debate logically like a man or woman of science does and keep emotions out.
Sadly, that only happens in movies. Scientists are some of the most passionately, irrationally, emotional people I know. Discredit their findings and it's war.
In that case … behave as society expects people of science to behave. Lead by being an example ?
