Coloring Progress Over Time/No of Bowls in one Meerschaum Pipe

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didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
9,967
31,885
34
Burlington WI
Starting to get frustrated with my altinay. I am about 60 bowls in and there is little to no coloring except for finger staining and a slight pink in the crest between the bowl and the shank. Now sure how to get this thing to color or if it is simply the meerschaum saying, "this is all I got chief"
You should start your own color progression thread. It may help to see how its changed over time.
 

DanWil84

Lifer
Mar 8, 2021
1,691
12,644
40
The Netherlands (Europe)
Starting to get frustrated with my altinay. I am about 60 bowls in and there is little to no coloring except for finger staining and a slight pink in the crest between the bowl and the shank. Now sure how to get this thing to color or if it is simply the meerschaum saying, "this is all I got chief"
Your not even at 1 percent of its potential, be patient and smoke the sucker.
 

fishmansf

Starting to Get Obsessed
Oct 29, 2022
285
637
PNW
Your not even at 1 percent of its potential, be patient and smoke the sucker.
Didn’t mean to hijack the thread but good to know. Some of these guys see massive color changes after like, 30 bowls but here I am lol. A little color but mainly thumb marks
 

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jhowell

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 25, 2019
636
1,022
70
Phoenix, Arizona
Starting to get frustrated with my altinay. I am about 60 bowls in and there is little to no coloring except for finger staining and a slight pink in the crest between the bowl and the shank. Now sure how to get this thing to color or if it is simply the meerschaum saying, "this is all I got chief"
It has nothing to do with Altinay. Each block of meerschaum will color the way it wants to! It really is the luck of the draw - the only way to find out how a particular block is going to color is to make a pipe out of it and smoke it. It doesn't matter what carver got your particular block - it's gonna color the way it wants...
 
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fishmansf

Starting to Get Obsessed
Oct 29, 2022
285
637
PNW
It has nothing to do with Altinay. Each block of meerschaum will color the way it wants to! It really is the luck of the draw - the only way to find out how a particular block is going to color is to make a pipe out of it and smoke it. It doesn't matter what carver got your particular block - it's gonna color the way it wants...
Oh absolutely, nothing wrong with altinay. Their pipes are amazing smoker and well made. I know it’s all in the block itself
 
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LeafErikson

Lifer
Dec 7, 2021
1,938
16,565
Oregon
Oh absolutely, nothing wrong with altinay. Their pipes are amazing smoker and well made. I know it’s all in the block itself
How spaced out are the 60 bowls you've had? 60 bowls in 10 days is MUCH different 60 bowls in 90 days in terms of how much coloring you'll see. Of course, some blocks are just more stubborn than others even with lots of smoking.

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The top pipe has had at least 600-650 bowls through it, but, that was over the course of 2 years. Less than one bowl a day on average. The bottom pipe has had around 300 smokes out of it in 3 months, so 3-4 smokes a day.

It’s still down to the block of meerschaum itself but if you smoke a meerschaum pipe multiple times a day it WILL color at some point.
 
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fishmansf

Starting to Get Obsessed
Oct 29, 2022
285
637
PNW
How spaced out are the 60 bowls you've had? 60 bowls in 10 days is MUCH different 60 bowls in 90 days in terms of how much coloring you'll see. Of course, some blocks are just more stubborn than others even with lots of smoking.

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The top pipe has had at least 600-650 bowls through it, but, that was over the course of 2 years. Less than one bowl a day on average. The bottom pipe has had around 300 smokes out of it in 3 months, so 3-4 smokes a day.

It’s still down to the block of meerschaum itself but if you smoke a meerschaum pipe multiple times a day it WILL color at some point.
Id say the total of 60 bowls has been since november (I think that s when got the pipe) though the last 20 bowls have been within the past 2 months
 

LeafErikson

Lifer
Dec 7, 2021
1,938
16,565
Oregon
Id say the total of 60 bowls has been since november (I think that s when got the pipe) though the last 20 bowls have been within the past 2 months
Yeah I wouldn’t expect much coloring smoking one bowl every other day for 4 months. Same with 20 bowls in 2 months. If you smoked it at that pace for years you would likely see color.

If you smoked 100 bowls in a month I could almost guarantee you it would color at least a little bit. Even then though there are some stubborn blocks out there.
 
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Apr 26, 2012
3,381
5,597
Washington State
Last year I had 21 meerschaum pipes that I smoked, along with 11 different briars, and 11 different corn cobs, in addition to my cigars. As I don't smoke that much, and trying not to neglect all my pipes, it makes it hard for me to color my meerschaums. I've got multiple meers that I've had for years and have smoked many bowls through, so they have some decent coloring, but I'm definitely jealous that some of you guys' color your meers so quickly.

Looking back at my makeshift smoking journal from last year, the most I smoked anyone of my meerschaum pipes was 27 bowls for the entire year. The most I smoked that pipe in a given month was 7 bowls. Needless to say, my meers don't color that fast as compared to some of you other guys. Many of you guys smoke your meers more times in one week than I do all year. Which is one of the reasons why I culled multiple pipes from my pipe collection, and still have a few more to sell off, so I can focus more on certain pipes. So far, the most bowls I've put through one of my meers this is year is 12. LOL I've got a lot of years of pipe smoking ahead of me, so I'm not worried about how my pipes look now. With time they'll all get plenty of love.
 
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