@condorlover1 That explains why my clays get so discoloured - that and the tobacco staining!I think they color due to global warming and excessive flatulence! Thats how they turn that brown color!
Meerschaum Soaking Experiment
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I think you're correct.
We have no doubt that meer can absorb water. Whenever I buy a brand new meer pipe, I would lick inside the pipe bowl. If it is made of block meerschaum, it can absorbs my saliva, making my tongue feel stuck.
What if ashes and cakes block most of the porous, stopping the pipe from absorbing more tar.(While water molecules can still pass through.) That's why the area of pipe bowl and shank don't change color at the same time. Because the bowl is full of ashes and cakes. Only the bottom of pipe bowl and shank can still aborsb tar, but the process is indeed very slow.
I believe that meer change color due to both wax and tar absorption. And these two processes occur simultaneously. However, the discoloration caused by wax becomes apparent first. On the other hand, achieving the discoloration effect through tar absorption requires thousands of smoke.
Now, we only need to cut an antique oxblood meer pipe in half to prove the point.
How can you reach a conclusion if the conditions of humidity, temperature, etc. are so different from those of a smoking?
I’m extremely confident this is the thread that sorts out the meerschaum coloring issue for good
Another burn in 11th day.
I took the meershaum piece out, torched it, and then throw it back into the glass once per day.
The section turned white when I torched it directly, it's the same result as I did a week ago.
Earlier today, one member in facebook pipe group post this picture.
He broke his pipe when reaming it.
You can see the deep carbonized area in the lower left of the bowl. It seems that burnout caused cracks, so tar can be absorbed and changed the color.
My guess: once the tar blocks the porus in the first layer, it will stop absorbing more tar. Not until the high temperature break the porus, the interior can absorb more tar. So the initial discoloration is caused by the effect of high temperature. This would also explain why the inner lining of my deep lattice pipe changes color from the rim down.
I took the meershaum piece out, torched it, and then throw it back into the glass once per day.
The section turned white when I torched it directly, it's the same result as I did a week ago.
Earlier today, one member in facebook pipe group post this picture.
He broke his pipe when reaming it.
You can see the deep carbonized area in the lower left of the bowl. It seems that burnout caused cracks, so tar can be absorbed and changed the color.
My guess: once the tar blocks the porus in the first layer, it will stop absorbing more tar. Not until the high temperature break the porus, the interior can absorb more tar. So the initial discoloration is caused by the effect of high temperature. This would also explain why the inner lining of my deep lattice pipe changes color from the rim down.
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Jason the meershaum king on youtube has videos on his life time of meerschaum experience. I believe he has past but had many well colored expensive antique meerschaums. Very old and very colored. I'm almost confident he said when they have chipped they are pure white underneath.
I think this experiment has value, so thank you. Also my dad colored his meerschaum black just by blowing smoke on it everytime he had an pipe or cigar. Almost 100% exterior color. 100s of years of knowledge would say to smoke it and not blow smoke on it but the result is hard to argue
Well this thread sent me down a rabbit hole. This is Sepiolite (Meerschaum) under an electron microscope. The chemical construction is this Mg4Si6O15(OH)2%C2%B76H2O for our budding chemists.
As we know Meerschaum is highly porous and I would suggest that colouration of meerschaum would require the stain to be smaller than the micro pores of the Meerschaum block. This said, stains or dyes in liquid suspension may not permeate due to size and a sieving effect but tars and dyes carried in smoke may well gain egress but if you wish to colour meerschaum all the way though the substance/suspension needs to be smaller than the pores. I am also guessing some meerschaum has larger/less dense pores whilst other blocks would be very tight and restrictive which is why some pipes colour and others do not.
As we know Meerschaum is highly porous and I would suggest that colouration of meerschaum would require the stain to be smaller than the micro pores of the Meerschaum block. This said, stains or dyes in liquid suspension may not permeate due to size and a sieving effect but tars and dyes carried in smoke may well gain egress but if you wish to colour meerschaum all the way though the substance/suspension needs to be smaller than the pores. I am also guessing some meerschaum has larger/less dense pores whilst other blocks would be very tight and restrictive which is why some pipes colour and others do not.
After some more consideration of my above post the ability of smoke to displace air contained within the structure of meerschaum may be the very reason for deeper colouration and may also be why colouring bowls work as they keep pores open allowing smoke egress without restricting the pores. If one was to put meerschaum in a negative atmosphere and force air to be displaced may well lead to very quick colouration.
I keep buying meers, and none of them are over 7 years old yet. So I haven't had then long enough for any hard evidence. However, all my meers color more on the right side, if you are looking down the stem at the pipe. I also happen to clench on the right side of my mouth 99 percent of the time (due to tooth issues). So I'd say most of the coloring comes from the smoke.