Hey all, I’m a meerschaum noob as you can probably tell by the numerous meerschaum questions I’ve been posting lately. I’ve heard that once a meerschaum is colored if it is not smoked frequently will lose its coloring. I usually smoke 1-2 bowls a day but plan on increasing for a period of time to color my new Altinay coming in the mail. For health reasons, I’d like to cut back on my smoking a bit once my meerschaum is somewhat colored, perhaps every other day. Is there any tips you have to keeping the pipe colored when smoking is less frequent?
Keeping a meerschaum colored after prolonged rest
- Thread starter fishmansf
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This is well over a 100 years old and doesn’t get smoked a lot. It may fade a little but it won’t go away. Don’t get to hung up on “coloring” your pipes, you’ll enjoy them a lot more.
If any of my meers lost any color from disuse I didn't notice it, so it couldn't have been much if it happened. Leaving it on the dash of my truck though, that's another story. Rapid and drastic.
You've got to question everything you hear. Such a thing has never happened to any of my meerschaums. Ever!
From this:
To this:
It only takes a few months of lack of use but smoke them a few times and the color becomes vivid again.
To this:
It only takes a few months of lack of use but smoke them a few times and the color becomes vivid again.
You realize that you are talking about hundreds to thousands of smokes don't you?
Thanks for keeping me posted! Ive always been curious about the coloring bowl. Ultimately its a pipe for smoking but I am curious on different coloring methods.
That is interesting, it doesn't really look to fade but rather it sort of goes from a bright glow to a dim glow/
You need to smoke a meerschaum a few hundred times to really see any sort of coloring. It has to be smoked thousands of times to get to be anything even approaching brown. Don't worry about the coloring and just smoke it.
When not smoking keep it out of bright light.... especially florescent which will bleach the color out. But on the bright side, if you wait long enough keeping it in the dark, the color will return. Don't ask me how this works, it just does. 
You can always do what the monied did in the past - hire someone to smoke it for you or get your valet to do it in his off time 
The coloring can fade a small amount after a long layoff but returns after a smoke or two, IME.
the more meerschaum questions the more I wonder how I got the one I did. That thing colors and stays colored noticeably after one smoke. I hardly use it and it isn't even close to one hundred smokers. I guess what I am saying is the fun of coloring a meerschaum isn't the results it's seeing what the hunk of rock does.
