Meerschaum Coloring Time lapse

[danielplainview]

I thought it’d be fun to capture the coloring process on this Meerschaum. This pipe was handed down to me from my grandfather and I’ve finally decided to smoke it.
I’ll update the pictures about once a month and we’ll see what happens. I’ve smoked three bowls before the pictures were taken.

 

[mikethompson]

Sounds like a plan - lets see how it colours up!

 

[danielplainview]

Has anyone seen anything like this on a Meerschaum before? Could this be the year it was made or purchased? I just discovered this shortly after posting the pictures. I’ve had this pipe for years, but only noticed the 65 marking when I cleaned the pipe after smoking last night.

 

[cortezattic]

Looks like a temporary reference figure written before the tenon was inserted.

Could it be a diameter of something? ...like 6.5mm

 

[mikethompson]

At first I thought you meant the screw in tendon, which yes is used on a lot of Meerschaum pipes for whatever reason. Could the 65 be some sort of makers mark?

 

[pylorns]

lol maybe its his 65th pipe...

 

[mawnansmiff]

Dave, I have an almost identical pipe and mine has the number 95 though mine is actually on the face of the mortice on the pipe and not on the stem.
My stem is different though, not yellow like yours but a maple syrup coloured acrylic.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[piffyr]

Great idea, Dave! I'm looking forward to seeing the progression.

Has anyone seen anything like this on a Meerschaum before?

Yeah, it's fairly common. Look on the end of the shank and you might find more of the same.

It might not be a "65". It could be hastily scribbled Turkish letters. I don't know what whether it's used to match stems to shanks or if it's a carver signature or what, but I doubt that it's a date reference.

 

[nevadablue]

Very interesting, I will be watching too.
I wonder why so many Meerschaum pipes have the yellow stem? I have two yellow ones and one marbled yellow.