So I recently aquired my first meerschaum. I know as you smoke it the pipe turns a nice toasty browm colour. Does the speed of this toasting or the severity depend at all on the type of tobacco or is it all about how much you smoke it? While we've got this discussion going, why not post your toasted meerschaums?

My one and only meer isn't colored much yet. I need to get smoking it more often.

However, one of the finest meer colorations I've ever seen has been posted from brother Dutch recently-



He has several more pics on the "What's your pleasure" thread here in the Tobacco Jar forum.

Well done Dutch!


Cheers,

RR

Is this one dutch's or yours? That coloration is beautiful.

Well, at 21, you are starting at a good age. Depending on how often you smoke it, it should look pretty good by the time you are 61 Don't be in a hurry, a good meer is not an "immediate gratification" sort of thing if done well. i have three which I smoke in rotation, one each night which I started this past year after buying them almost 20 years ago. They've just started to get the "glow" and will till I stop smoking but I'm in no hurry. I have smoked every type of tobacco I have smoked in them and I don't think one type over another really matters. Just let it rest btwn smokes and keep cake to a minimum and take your time and enjoy the full taste of the tobacco you are smoking in it. I always smoke a bowl or two in a meer when I am first trying out a 'bac as it let's the full taste come thru. Take your time and enjoy it. But remember, it is NOT a briar

Now we both have an excuse to smoke our pipes more!

I've seen a few opinionss on this tobacco or that type coloring best, but my experience has been they all seem to work about the same. Just remember to keep your hands clean so it doesn't absorb oil on the outside. Some say you should cover your hands with white, cotton gloves or try to only touch/hold the stem, but to me it kind of defeats the purpose of having a relaxing smoke. Unless, of course, you were raised down here in the south and your partents forced you to go to Catillian for two years, in which case it's perfect form anytime to use white gloves!

Smoke early and smoke often may be the best advice?

Natch

Thanks for the compliments on my Virginia dedicated meer guys. Here is another that I am proud of that I have dedicated to English blends.

Dutch, weren't those pipes you put in a container and blew in some smoke, then sealed, so the meer would absorb the coloration? Not that I'd call that cheating, but... ...it's an enviable outcome.

I have a new meer I'm breaking in, just an inexpensive SMS. It gurgles a little, there isn't the care on the finish other pipes might have gotten, but overall it smokes great. Here's a few things I'm experimenting with that I've picked up along the way, according to certain advice:

* Stem-holding only. Yeah, it's an old saw, but I'm really curious to see if it colors differently. I have no "control" to determine if this idea works or not, but I have seen some pipes with smooth finish that got weirdly blotchy because they were handled often.

* Smoke like hell, then let rest. I read someplace that giving the pipe a few bowls a day continuously for a few weeks and then a good two week rest helps the color spread.

* Gentle alcohol swab after every smoke. Some people swear cake prohibits coloring, others say it enhances it. Who knows? I just keep it clean because the thought of reaming meerschaum sounds like a dangerous and daunting task, so might as well keep the cake to a minimum.

* Blow smoke on the bowl as you puff away. Meerschaum's some pretty absorbent stuff, so I give a slow, steady "smoke bath" frequently as I puff. It gives me a chance to admire the coloration process, as slow as it is.

* Beeswax coating. To heck with this boiling in wax, complicated crap. I have a stick of hippie beeswax lip balm, and about twice a month, I've been just spreading a light coating on the outside before I smoke. I read they used to use all sorts of rendered oil, animal fat and wax on meerschaum pipes, so what the heck?

Things I'm keeping in mind:

* I read once "...meerschaum colors the way it wants to."

* It's my pipe, I can do what I want (except drop it, that'd depress me).

* I'm always doing something wrong according to someone anyway, so eff it.

* I'm enjoying my pipe, meanwhile, experimenting with it.

May you find something that works for you, and welcome to being a "Slave to the White Goddess" as she changes her colors for you.

Kyle, yes that is the way I began the coloring on those pipes, so that I wouldn't have to go through the glove wearing ritual during the hot summer months here in Alabama.

Here is another meer that I have allowed to color naturally thru smoking only. It is called a "calcine" meer, and since the burned coloration is uneven anyhow, I figured I would skip the tupperware coloring process on this one.

Yanik dubbed it a "ghost ship."

That thing is effing epic. Great coloring, great shape. I can only hope my meers get close to that kind of color.

Well, first, I'd have to get a great Yanik shape. One day.

That "ghost ship" is stunning.

Wow! I'm afraid that The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Meers would confiscate my mottled, bathtub-ringed CAO meers.

One of my older meers.
Jim

My estate meer... kinda cool. Works for me!



Front view. This is what caught my eye.