Seeing Red

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Mr.Casa

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I was in the middle of smoking my Stanwell Featherweight 240 with a red finish and I decided to give it a little wipe down with my shirt to get fingerprints and such off. When I looked down at my shirt it was covered in little red spots. The coloring of my pipe seems to be getting lighter in some areas. Has anybody had this happen? Any suggestions?
 
My Stanwell featherweight does the same thing. It appears to only be a problem with the red finish. I wouldn't be too worried about it. Think of it as reverse coloring! :eek:

As an amateur pipe maker, I also know that some red dyes just have a history of bleeding or coming off after a few smokes. I don't know what it is about red in particular but I haven't had any problem with other dyes.
 
Thanks for the reply. I kinda think that it looks better a little bit lighter. I was just worried about it all coming off.
 
I have smoked my Stannie pretty heavily and it still is obviously red in colour. The red stops coming off after a period of smoking. I think it's just something that you have break in on the pipe.
 
Isn't Peterson having some trouble with the finish of their red stained pipes as well?
 
I have a Peterson 120 in the Killarney finish. I bought it about 2 years ago and haven't had any problems with it at all. Is there a different red finish that Peterson makes?
 
Mr.Casa":wwq3tvbl said:
I have a Peterson 120 in the Killarney finish. I bought it about 2 years ago and haven't had any problems with it at all. Is there a different red finish that Peterson makes?
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The finishes used by Stanwell are more than probably different than Petersons. They don't all use the same finish. It's like GM's Red is basicaly the same as Toyota's Red but the formulations are different. To expect them to be the same doesn't work :p Only thing the same is they are called "red finishes" :p
 
Dave_In_Philly":l1dbu7ku said:
Isn't Peterson having some trouble with the finish of their red stained pipes as well?
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I don't think so. I have a Killarney that smokes and wears just fine. Peterson seals that line with a lacquer though, so I doubt any will be coming off.

The green pipes that Peterson makes, on the other hand, have the tendency to turn brown over time.
 
I have a Giant Nording (an older one) that has problems with the red stain, and I noticed the Jobey I got recently will turn my hands pink when smoked.

I know one pipe I carved I used a water-based dye that was red, and it was tough to keep the color on, until a coat of light shellac was put on it. Not that I'd suggest anyone try putting shellac on their pipe, but this pipe was a disaster from the start... :|

8)
 
I do have a Peterson Calabash that has this problem but its a light brown finish.
 
I've been told at one point that generally speaking, red colored dyes have larger molecules or some such thing, which causes them to be less easily and less complety absorbed by porous surfaces than other colors. Apparently this effect is also often seen with hair dyes.

I have no idea as to the accuracy of the above, but i will say that believe it or not i was informed of this during a conversation with two individuals, one a builder/stainer of wood decks and the other a hairstylist. It was actually a remarkably boring conversation so i went outside and smoked a pipe.
 
I would think that the molecules in red or brown or green or whatever color dye...in relation to the size of pores in wood...well it's kind of like throwing ball bearings into the Pacific Ocean.



Statistically...given the pipes of ANY maker there is ALWAYS going to be some percentage in which a flaw shows up. Pete's green dye 'fades to brown' (kinda cinematic)...and they have a red stain in their Sherlock Holems line, the Premium Silver Mount and a couple of others I think (but I haven't heard of any issues there)...but I saw a thing about Tsuge finish bubbling off one of their cheap pipes...and here we have Stanwell's bleeding all over the place!



But the really critical thing...you said it smokes really good...right?

 
Oh, someone got out the ole ruler and measured dye molecules, eh? :lol: :p

Dyes are weird. So are the surfaces to be stained. Ambient condition, make-up of the dye itself, humidity, temperature, porosity of the material, other (possibly conflicting) compounds in the material...we're just lucky the dye stays on at all.

Briar being natural and unpredictable, and all having some kind of varying degree of human interaction to manufacture them, there's bound to be some head-scratching when something doesn't go as planned.

8)
 
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