Meerschaum patina

[Volkditty]

I bought this meerschaum pipe new from my local B&M just before Thanksgiving. Following some advice I read on SmokingPipes.com, I smoked it ~30 times in the first two weeks and then let it rest for the last month.

Dec 15th:

Jan 16th:

If I'm being honest, I don't see much difference in the before/after pictures. The start of the mottled coloration around the bowl might be a little more pronounced now, or that may be a trick of the light. But it still smokes real nice, and I suppose it's more about the journey than the destination anyway.

 

[Ranger107]

It takes a long time to color a meer. I have a smooth bulldog I've been smoking for over 3 years and it's just beginning to turn from white to an eggshell color with some yellowing around the top of the bowl. I read somewhere that the meer Lee Van Cleef smoked in the Good, Bad, and the Ugly he had been smoking almost daily for over 15 years.

 

[Volkditty]

Oh for sure, I am in this for the long haul. I'm trying to take more care with this one so that it develops the right way. I have two other meerschaums but one is a mess of baked-in ash and fingerprints because I wasn't careful initially and the other has some nice coloring but I 'cheated' by giving it a yellow beeswax bath to speed it along.