E.V.O.O on meers

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Jevverrett

Jevverrett

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I found a vid on this on the net and the guy said it works. He put it on the pipe while he smoked it. You can see it working. I tried it and, he’s right. It worked great, actually.

A bottle cap worth of olive oil and a little paintbrush, who knew? I put it on all over while I smoked it. I waited for it to get warm a bit first. The pipe kind of drank it up on the first go over, but on the second it started to work. Brought out a golden brown Carmel color all over the pipe. I know wax is the ancient wisdom on this, but I’m kind of shocked. You would think this would be more common knowledge. Ive probably smoked about 60 or more bowls with this pipe since I got it, and most of color on it came through Just today in about 15 mins during a smoke haha.

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I’m smoking it right now. Just as cool and sweet as ever. (After I tweaked the tenon a bit) First thing I did was smell it lol. I got nervous after I saw the reply posts on my phone earlier today. Very faint whiff of olive oil, but most of the shine is gone since last night. No flavor change that I can notice either.

I did some more reading last night on all this. Apparently, before using beeswax on pipes whale oil was used to help them color. I guess it worked very well, bc all the really old meers you see are well colored. Seeing as how that became extremely illegal, melted beeswax came into fashion. It would make sense some kind of natural oil would work best so long as it’s not petrol based.
 
Whale oil was indeed the preferred treatment for meers back in the day. As you say quite illegal now. There is a company that makes and sells a synthetic whale oil but I would advise more research into that before slapping it on your pipes. I don't see any reason not to use EVOO if it floats your boat. My only advice would be to go slow and not try to saturate the meer too quickly.

Jim
 
Olive oil can turn rancid. Just sayin'. I wonder if mineral oil would work, since that's what they recommend for wooden cutting boards, for that reason. (The question is rhetorical, since I don't really care what color my meerschaum is--although some shadings of brown do look kind of cool, I must admit.)
 
It took less than a bottlecap to coat it twice. The pipe appears to have soaked it all up as of today. It was really shiny at first, but has gone back to its normal level at this point. I’ll check in on this again at some point for the sake of science haha. The guy on the video says he does it regularly with no issues. I’m not sure how crazy I’m gonna get on this, it seems like you could go too far.

I would imagine the idea is the olive oil merges with the tobacco oils and draws the darker oil to the surface some. In which case, done sparingly, it shouldn’t be a problem I hope. I would venture to guess the tobacco oils probably act as some sort of an astringent. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of an old pipe going rancid unless there was moisture involved.
 
International Lubricants Incorporated makes a number of products using what they call LXE technology. Its a long chain ester type liquid wax. One of which is used in pool and spa maintenance. It appears to be clear and is sold under the lubeguard name as Zero pool and spa lubricant. This is synthetic whale oil. It is designed to not go rancid and may well be worth the price for oiling your Meers. It is designed to take high temperatures as well. Just a thought for anyone concerned about EVOO going rancid.

Jim
 
It’s too bad meers are so pricey. I think it would be interesting to purchase a control group of matching pipes. Smoke them using one blend only, on an even rotation for awhile. And then try different varieties of oil on them. There could be something of a market for the right product, if it could be found. Most people buy these pipes to watch them color, right? Problem seems to be the smoking of them all for years to get the answer lol.
 
Interesting note on the smoking and coloring of Meers. The Czar was known to give very darkly colored Meers to important dignitaries, and high ranking military personnel.  He would have said pipe sent to a military unit with tobacco and it would be smoked almost non stop for months on end by the entire unit until it attained the desired depth of color. I assume that whale oil was also provided as well as someone that knew what they were doing. As to the care and oiling.

From what I understand Meers presented by the Czar were usually a very deep cherry red to almost black. Depending on just how long the pipe was smoked before presentation.

Jim
 
I’ve read similar things. I wish I knew where I could find a garrison worth of pipe smokers to smoke the life out of a new meer for me lol
 
The thing with meers is you buy them in your early 20s then smoke them for 40 years at least twice a week and VOILA ! It's colored beautifully !! It's worked for me !! :twisted: :twisted:
 
Personally, I wouldn't use anything else but bees wax. Maybe I would use that Whale oil but I would definitely not use olive oil; just me.
 
Guess I've come to the decision that I'll let my one fully carved meer colour naturally with use. And that is specific to the Royal Meerschaum bent apple/dimple finish with an amber stem (prolly acrylic) that I don't seem to smoke often enough. Perhaps this is a prompt to put it into more regular rotation.

I do have the BoB '16 POTY Falcon w/meer bowl, as well as a Brebbia briar with a meer lining. But they don't count. Well, maybe the Falcon......



Cheers,

RR
 
Well, worst case scenario is we all learn a lesson on my dime. And I have to suffer through finding a new meerschaum. I’m only willing to take that chance for you guys lol.

Still smells fine btw. Coloration has subdued slightly in some areas, but overall general color increase is holding. I figured some of the color would fade a bit in a few days like waxing, so no problem.
 
Kinda wish I were in the market for a new meer. I'd be willing to give the synthetic whale oil a try. Yeah its pricey at 18$ a bottle but you're only using it on a meer I expect that bottle would last 5-6 years easy. That's the great thing about this hobby though there's always someone willing to experiment and save you some serious stumbling around in the dark on your own.

Jim

 
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