Removing A Stain From A Meerschaum Pipe

[paulfg]

is there a way to remove a stain from the outside of a meerschaum pipe
I made the mistake of whilst doing a hot water flush on my pipe I picked it up and hadnt noticed my fingers had a sooty residue on it.I now have a brown mark on the outside of the bowl .
I am reluctant to try to remove it without any guidance

 

[lightmybriar]

is there a way to remove a stain from the outside of a meerschaum pipe
I made the mistake of whilst doing a hot water flush on my pipe I picked it up and hadnt noticed my fingers had a sooty residue on it.I now have a brown mark on the outside of the bowl .
I am reluctant to try to remove it without any guidance

They can be sanded away very gently and rewaxed, which is what I do with estate meerschaum. It’s a lot of careful work, though.

 

[BROBS]

You might be able to clean it off with cool water. I would avoid hot water flushing a meer.

 

[paulfg]

You might be able to clean it off with cool water. I would avoid hot water flushing a meer.

thanks for that ,I will try it before going to more abrasive methods.
Why no hot water flush? removing the wax?

 

[hauntedmyst]

Yes. Meers are coated a bees was which has a very low melting pointing. It's why they color in the first place.

 

[BROBS]

thanks for that ,I will try it before going to more abrasive methods.
Why no hot water flush? removing the wax?

Yes that as well as hot water will soften the actual stone. That’s how they carve it is to soak it in water and get it all saturated.

the only time I have ever used hot water in a Meer was to remove a febreze type ghost from an unsmoked pipe. It must have been stored in a closet or tote with an air freshener of some type. When I flushed, the actual Meer swelled a tiny bit due to absorbing the water.

 

[warren]

The pipe wouild pass color to the surface whether it was coated, which is not a simple "bee's wax", or not. The surface coating is to keep the "seepage" contained, visable and protected. Without the "coating" the residues would simply rise to the surface to be dirtied, abraded and/or evaporated. It's all very logical but, not all that simple.

 

[paulfg]

well I tried cleaning with water but no good,so attacked it with micromesh which reduced it to a much lighter colour.Hopefully it will be covered as the meer colours

 

[BROBS]

Get some 100% natural beeswax and rub the thing with it. Then with a paper towel.

 

[jhowell]

I have used bleach on a q-tip in the past to remove stains from a meerschaum... be very careful with this approach!