I am somewhat new to piping and have a question about meerschaums darkening. I have two in my collection and both get heavy use. One I bought new about two years ago. It is already a dark brown along the shank and bottom of the bowl. The other is an estate pipe that I bought and it has no darkening at all. They are both carved block. I thought all meerschaum pips were supposed to darken as you use them. Just wondering why one is not.
Meerschaum Coloring
- Thread starter lurch76
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Patience laddie, patience. Try not to handle a hot bowel with fingers that are not clean. I do not worry about the coloring of my meers, so am less careful with them. If you purchased them with the goal of nice even coloring you should know that what happens is dependent on the meerschaum and your care of the pipe. It is primarily the quality of the meerschaum that determines the look, pattern and depth of the color.
Cotton gloves, like those used by photo lab personnel, are good for keeping oils from the fingers degrading the wax impregnated into the mineral. A clean, white handkerchief will also provide the protection.
Coloring a meer is not a science. The pipe will usually begin to color first on the shank and then work up the bowel. Again, this has more to do with the structure of the mineral block than tobacco and handling. Just enjoy the pipe, try to keep it clean inside and out, and marvel at the increasing color and its pattern. After a smoke I usually run a cleaner through it and wipe the inside of the bowel with a paper towel.
If you are unhappy with the speed of the color change there are smoking machines that some people use. All you have to do is fill the bowel, light the tobacco, and let the machine puff away. Years ago, or so I've read, army officers used to engage some of their troops to smoke their meers so to speed the coloring.
Cotton gloves, like those used by photo lab personnel, are good for keeping oils from the fingers degrading the wax impregnated into the mineral. A clean, white handkerchief will also provide the protection.
Coloring a meer is not a science. The pipe will usually begin to color first on the shank and then work up the bowel. Again, this has more to do with the structure of the mineral block than tobacco and handling. Just enjoy the pipe, try to keep it clean inside and out, and marvel at the increasing color and its pattern. After a smoke I usually run a cleaner through it and wipe the inside of the bowel with a paper towel.
If you are unhappy with the speed of the color change there are smoking machines that some people use. All you have to do is fill the bowel, light the tobacco, and let the machine puff away. Years ago, or so I've read, army officers used to engage some of their troops to smoke their meers so to speed the coloring.
Go on e-Bay or your vendor of choice and get some white bee's wax. With a hot air blower, gently heat the pipe while
applying liquid bee's wax to the surface. Keep the bowl warm while doing this. The color should come through gradually,
and get better in time. (It's probably advisable to remove any nylon tenon parts while doing this.)
applying liquid bee's wax to the surface. Keep the bowl warm while doing this. The color should come through gradually,
and get better in time. (It's probably advisable to remove any nylon tenon parts while doing this.)
One old meer of mine appears to have reached it's full capacity for soaking up color. But, if I observe it carefully oover a month or so I can see the growth. I believe meers color faster in the early stages because the more porous areas simply soak up the coloring faster. Again, it's mostly dependent on the caliber of the meer.
You can load up the pipe with wax, bake it in, rub it in, try any way possible to infuse the meer with wax, trust me, the meer is infused with wax before you get it. Unless you have messed up the original wax you'll not be getting more wax into the meer. It's like waxing furniture, the wood is dead, you are not feeding dead wood with exotic furniture oil. You are oiling the wood surface, possibly filling some small voids in the grain, so that it will suck up the dust and make a pasty mess. Meer is not going to soak up more wax than it can hold.
Waxing your meers is, however, a way of feeling that you are contributing more to the process than just sucking on the pipe. I have not personally observed any increase in the speed of coloring through the use of additional wax. Of course I tried CAO wax, bees wax, and other such when I was younger and in a hurry. I can offer no empirical proof that additional wax is of value over the years.
You can load up the pipe with wax, bake it in, rub it in, try any way possible to infuse the meer with wax, trust me, the meer is infused with wax before you get it. Unless you have messed up the original wax you'll not be getting more wax into the meer. It's like waxing furniture, the wood is dead, you are not feeding dead wood with exotic furniture oil. You are oiling the wood surface, possibly filling some small voids in the grain, so that it will suck up the dust and make a pasty mess. Meer is not going to soak up more wax than it can hold.
Waxing your meers is, however, a way of feeling that you are contributing more to the process than just sucking on the pipe. I have not personally observed any increase in the speed of coloring through the use of additional wax. Of course I tried CAO wax, bees wax, and other such when I was younger and in a hurry. I can offer no empirical proof that additional wax is of value over the years.
Warren, I have to disagree with you on the value of wax treatment.
I do the bee's wax surface treatment, and it does work -- on my meers at least. I got this tip from the guru of the White Goddess, Fred Bass. From his article, Slave To The White Goddess, he writes:
I do the bee's wax surface treatment, and it does work -- on my meers at least. I got this tip from the guru of the White Goddess, Fred Bass. From his article, Slave To The White Goddess, he writes:
The article contains much more on the subject of wax treatment(s). Here's my result, in a pipe that gets one use per month, at best:
I agree completely that wax can help with patina. The surface coloring does vary as you smoke. When I was talking coloring I meant the deep seated, dark brown that has permeated the meerschaum. Patina, surfacing color, migrates around as fingers, heat, or whatever move the wax around. And if the sealing wax is removed the coloring will rise to the outer surface of the meer and not be trapped under the wax. I believe that is why it is recommended that the original surface be handled as little as possible and not at all when warm, thus keeping the coloring trapped within the mineral, under the wax, growing ever darker.
Again, no empirical evidence except for that if you inspect my meers, of which I handle the bowl when smoking, not the shank, most of my pipes have mottled bowls from disturbing the original wax, yet the shanks are almost uniformly deep, dark brown. Almost ebony! If you are trying for the look of Angel Eyes' meer you have to be scrupulous in the handling, or lack of, a new meerschaum, from the first to the last bowl.
Again, no empirical evidence except for that if you inspect my meers, of which I handle the bowl when smoking, not the shank, most of my pipes have mottled bowls from disturbing the original wax, yet the shanks are almost uniformly deep, dark brown. Almost ebony! If you are trying for the look of Angel Eyes' meer you have to be scrupulous in the handling, or lack of, a new meerschaum, from the first to the last bowl.
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