Pre-Colored Meers...Is it dead? Post em up!

[aimus1]

A recent thread question got me to thinking about the practice of pre-coloring / staining meers. I've seen many turn of the century pipes which were pre-colored or stained by the carver, but it seems much less frequently practiced today. Anybody have a theory?
Please post pics of your pre-colored meers and estimated year of production.

 

[gnesiohamartolos]

Coloring newly carved meerschaum pipes fell out of favor for a while but seems to be making a comeback. Sadik Yanik has been unabashedly coloring some of his pipes, even those that are intricately carved. Huseyin Yavuz, M. Bahri, Kenan and Hüseyin Cor also dye, stain or otherwise color their pipes.

 

[warren]

I wouldn't think of purchasing anything but a snowy white, pristine meer. Simply a personal thing as I enjoy watching it turn naturally, ever so slowly.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

It's like buying a coloring book that already has all of the colors printed in the designs.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

A pre-assembled jigsaw puzzle...

 

[agnosticpipe]

I've got one pre-colored meer, it's an African meer from the Isle of Man. It has a rusticated surface and is colored a medium brown with a dark fumed bowl top. It seems that almost all the African meers I've seen are colored, and I can't ever remember seeing one that was white. Maybe African meer isn't real white to begin with? Whatever the case, I like the way it smokes, and don't miss the coloring aspect of them. I always have the Turkish meers for the coloring fun...
I forgot to mention, that I do have a meer that is somewhat colored, a Bloody Knuckles meer from Olie Sylvester. But that's a whole different thing! :mrgreen:

 

[seagullplayer]

If I was just gonna look at it I could see why pre coloring might be appealing.
Seems like there are a lot of collectors out there that would never smoke one enough to color it.
It kind of feels like cheating to me...

 

[mackeson]

I agree, seagullplayer. Kind of like buying jeans that already have holes.

 

[preacherpiper]

I like a meer for reasons other than the eventual coloring that comes on ... or not. No ghosting, use often without a rotation....if desired. I just got a large calab. Looking, intimately designed and honey golden colored. Hope it smokes as well as my solid white mini meer.

 

[preacherpiper]

I meant intricately designed.

 

[64alex]

What about meers not white but yellow from applied natural beeswax instead than bleached beeswax?. Do you consider them colored or not?

 

[Chasing Embers]

No ghosting

Oh, they will ghost after a while.

 

[benpipesmoking]

just smokem!

 

[warren]

64alex: I considered them wax coated, certainly not colored.

 

[akfilm]

I once saw a beautiful African meerschaum that I'd don't buy in the shop. My pipe buying nemesis snatched it up after I changed my mind and went in (a collector I've never met in state but we compete for the nice pipes in the shop). A year later a slightly less fancy when came in and I bought it the day it hit the case. It's an African Meer colored black. This is my all day shop smoker, I've had to change out the stem once already because I'm a clenched in the shop. No idea when it was made. It's my go to in the shop since I can keep refilling and smoking, don't worry about the blend, and because of the rusticated finish don't worry too much about flying debris.

 

[Sinan Altinok]

@64alex Pre-coloring is completely different than colored wax. Pre-coloring is performed by burning the bleached wax with a special tool. A smooth yellow, brown color is made by some special chemicals in the wax itself.

 

[condorlover1]

Here is an example of a 19th century pre-colored meerschaum pipe that used what was called ox blood

 

[tschiraldi]

Condorlover1 - I LOVE that pipe! It's honestly the only pre-colored meer I've seen that I actually like!

 

[ashdigger]

Here's an Ox-Blood Meer from 1902