Another Meer Coloring Tip/Method

[metalheadycigarguy]

I'm going to have to make a before and after picture of 30+ days. My intended point has been entirely misconstrued.

Not misconstrued, as it will work if you do it enough times.
I think most of us are just saying that there is no need to hurry the coloring of your pipe. Let it color naturally as you smoke it. Of course, they're your pipes, you color them as you please.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

Nothing is going to work 100% of the time, but applying it to maybe twenty meers in various states, I find Jojoba oil to work the best. The advantage of Jojoba oil is that it has the same chemical make-up as sperm whale oil, which supposedly was used by pipe-makers of old.

Correct. I think that jojoba would definitely work better than the extra virgin olive oil. Less greasy for sure, as I don't think I would be rubbing the excess olive oil on my skin. LOL

 

[JackofNone]

Not misconstrued, as it will work if you do it enough times.
I think most of us are just saying that there is no need to hurry the coloring of your pipe. Let it color naturally as you smoke it. Of course, they're your pipes, you color them as you please.

That's the thing..it's not a pipe that I smoke anymore..it was just an experiment..I would not do that to my Tekin. I plan on putting 40 years of actual smoking through it before cancer or the government get me. The pipes in the images of the OP were garbage just wanted to gauge the results. I didn't want to debate what defines real coloring or the idiocy of coloring obsession. It's just an option for people who are looking for different paths.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

I may be in the minority, but Meerschaum’s primary appeal for me are its smoking properties; the aesthetics of the pipe shapes/design are always a major factor. The colouring, while sometimes weirdly beautiful, is something I would gladly do without—I’d be quite happy and content if my pipes stayed completely white.

 

[fishmansf]

I fail to understand why people go out of their way to color a Meer. It colors as you smoke it, some easily, some not. No smoked Meer has even coloring.

Could you not just soak it in a dark tea? Or fill it with wet tobacco and let it dry?

I know a lot of people simply don't like the bright white. I know pipe smoking is about the tobacco we smoke but the pipe plays a huge part in it. For me personally, I hate the bright white my meerschaum is, however, the dark yellow and orange it turns after many smokes is what makes it beautiful.

 

[fishmansf]

"If my meerschaum pipe is colored, my wife will love me."

My wife says she's really into dark chocolate, whatever that means

 

[TheIronMonkey]

I may be in the minority, but Meerschaum’s primary appeal for me are its smoking properties; the aesthetics of the pipe shapes/design are always a major factor. The colouring, while sometimes weirdly beautiful, is something I would gladly do without—I’d be quite happy and content if my pipes stayed completely white.

*Correction: Meerschaum’s primary appeal for me is its smoking properties (since appeal is singular)

 

[orlandofurioso]

A Couple of Dogs

I just received the top pipe - it's only been smoked once or twice. The bottom one is a well-smoked Peterson. Both probably date to early 1900's.

My personal 'secret' which has only been a forgotten secret for the last ~40 years, is Jojoba oil. Pipe-makers started using it to replace sperm whale oil when it became illegal/hard to get. Rub that into your meer well and it will bring back the color on an old faded meer, or brighten up one that already looks good. I've found that it even works on meers that I had previously used beeswax polish on.

The greatest thing about Jojoba oil is that you don't have to wash your hands after use - just rub it into your wrinkles!

This looks magnificent ; same here
Also rub it into your skin, beard, eyebrows etc.
It will make your chest hair grow too lol.

 

[mikethompson]

Has any tried the Diesel exhaust method?

 

[runscott]

This looks magnificent ; same here
Also rub it into your skin, beard, eyebrows etc.
It will make your chest hair grow too lol.

I haven't rubbed it into the top one yet.

I hesitate to mention this next 'secret', as it doesn't always do anything: for old meers with faded cherry color, sometimes I'll rub in some beeswax polish (I use Clapham's) and after it dries, use a heat gun on the stummel (remove the stem). You kind of paint it with the heat gun and watch the dull spots turn bright again. Sometimes they will fade some when the pipe cools. I then repeat this process (beeswax, then heat gun), and on some pipes the color stays.

The above is less effective with orange coloring. It's also less effective with Jojoba oil.

 

[runscott]

On dirty meers I'll first take a paper towel and Murphy's Oil, and gently rub the dirty spots, then wipe off the soap with a wet paper towel, then let it dry before doing the above procedure.

On smooth meers that are just a wreck - dry, dirty, lots of scratches, I'll do a complete refurbish, even using sandpaper. On this one I used 400, 600, on the egg only (not the hand or cuffs), then went to the micromesh pads. You can see from the bottom photo that the sandpaper did not get rid of the coloring and I sanded the egg completely. Then used Jojoba Oil to bring back color to the egg and some to the fingers - smoking should bring back more of it.

(This one also had a badly repaired broken amber stem that I had to re-break and glue back together)

 

[condorlover1]

I just smoke the damned things! If you put a plug or restrictor in the bottom of the bowl and pack the bowl with flake, plug or rope and smoke it slowly, assuming it isn't 'African Meerschaum' it will color a beautiful 'turd' brown color. Think of a color range between too strong a curry and too many pints of Guinness with the mistaken belief you have bowel cancer the next morning whilst on the bog! The below picture should illustrate what I am talking about. Anything else strikes me as odd but, hell its your pipe so do what you want with it. @runscott as an after thought that is a lovely clean up job. Did the case survive?

 

[AroEnglish]

Has any tried the Diesel exhaust method?

Sounds like we found your next experiment.

 

[runscott]

Thanks @condorlover1
Yes,

@runscott as an after thought that is a lovely clean up job. Did the case survive?

Thanks. Yes, it has a case with a metal horseshoe clasp.

 

[peteguy]

Sperm Whale oil got me to thinking......

Wow, get out of the gutter man! Nevermind, I am sticking to the Diesel fume method.

 

[runscott]

Sperm Whale oil got me to thinking......

Wow, get out of the gutter man! Nevermind, I am sticking to the Diesel fume method.

Forget what I said about rubbing it into your wrinkles.

 

[orlandofurioso]

I haven't rubbed it into the top one yet.

I hesitate to mention this next 'secret', as it doesn't always do anything: for old meers with faded cherry color, sometimes I'll rub in some beeswax polish (I use Clapham's) and after it dries, use a heat gun on the stummel (remove the stem). You kind of paint it with the heat gun and watch the dull spots turn bright again. Sometimes they will fade some when the pipe cools. I then repeat this process (beeswax, then heat gun), and on some pipes the color stays.

The above is less effective with orange coloring. It's also less effective with Jojoba oil.

There is a mighty interesting ( somewhere ) article about how the old Barling meers were stained; with a mix from alcohol based oxblood red and a color I forgot about.
The stain was then burned in the meer with an alcohol burner. I retrieved it from some old archives and then of course lost it. Maybe Jon knows .
I suppose this comment is utterly useless

 

[runscott]

There is a mighty interesting ( somewhere ) article about how the old Barling meers were stained; with a mix from alcohol based oxblood red and a color I forgot about.
The stain was then burned in the meer with an alcohol burner. I retrieved it from some old archives and then of course lost it. Maybe Jon knows .
I suppose this comment is utterly useless

I would love to read that. Here are a few old meers that received 'factory coloring', perhaps in the manner you mention. The top one is a ~1970's Barling, followed by a oxblood red, and an orange.

 

[fishmansf]

Edited title after significant feedback. 3/14

It works. I'm disappointed that it was this easy, but it works. I feel like the meerschaum mafia is on their way to my house now that I'm disclosing this.

Put the meer in a glass jar. Smoke another pipe. Blow smoke into the jar, seal the lid. Repeat several times a day. After 2 days my throwaway meer is more colored than the ones I won't use this cheat code to color. I have had my Tekin for a month and smoked it every day, but it has less color than the meer I have colored in this experiment. This is cheating. But I know there are some coloring-freaks out there. Well, this is it. The cheat code to coloring meerschaum. I'm sorry.

Between you and me (and the rest of us who obsess with coloring our meerschaums more than the smoke), sometimes, if I am not enjoying a bowl or am getting some tongue bite, what I will do is cup the top of the bowl so my hand forms a "chimney" on top of the pipe bowl. I will then put my lips on my hand and just gently blow through it so smoke billowed out of the stem. It has been coloring my pipe quite well. For me, I struggle with meerschaum because I don't enjoy the smoke since I obsess over coloring it so much. Once it is colored to my satisfaction, I feel like I can enjoy it and add it to my briar/meer rotation.

 

[LeafErikson]

I may be in the minority, but Meerschaum’s primary appeal for me are its smoking properties; the aesthetics of the pipe shapes/design are always a major factor. The colouring, while sometimes weirdly beautiful, is something I would gladly do without—I’d be quite happy and content if my pipes stayed completely white.

I smoke meerschaum for its smoking properties and ability to take abuse. I'm also a big fan of the coloring though and would be disappointed if they stayed white haha.