Waxing a meerschaum pipe

loammi

So I have purchased a few meerschaum pipes and love the smoking qualities and the aesthetics of them. I'm looking forward to their gradual change in coloration as I smoke them. I've read discussions all over the board about the need to wax meerschaums as part of routine maintenance. I've read that waxing can help speed coloration but I'm not worried about speeding up that process. Some say they re-wax after every few smokes (seems excessive), others say they never wax them. What is the experience/practice of those here who smoke meerschaums? Is waxing an important part of maintenance or is this an idea similar to wearing gloves while smoking them (needless)?  I am concerned that I follow good maintenance for these types of pipes.  Thanks!

tomatobodhi

I smoke several Meerschaums and never wax them.

Sounds like a "gloves" problem, like you said.

ghostsofpompeii

I have Meerschaums that are decades old and I've never waxed them once. Of course they haven't changed color so maybe adding a coat of wax now and then might help.

Woodsman

I've only waxed once and it was to reseal the pipe after cleaning a stubborn buildup on the pipe. It's a delicate process as you don't want any molten wax getting in the bowl which would ruin your pipe. Some people SEAL the bowl and stem and dunk the whole thing which is risky to me. The other method is to melt beeswax in a small container and brush it on with a stiff disposable brush while using a heat gun, Let it set and then use the heat gun and brush the excess off, then buff to polish with a soft shoe brush.

 I brush my pipes with a shoe brush about twice a year. 

loammi

Thanks all for the thoughts. @woodsman, thanks for the warning and the idea of a shoe brush. My meerschaums are carved so I was trying to figure out a way to gently clean them if I ever needed to and a shoe brush is something I will look into.

I did find this article interesting as I continued to look into this area of meerschaum pipes http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/put-that-in-your-pipe/slave-to-the-white-goddess/

PappyJoe

I have experimented with waxing two of my Meerschaum. One is a CAO I've had since 1984 and the other is a smooth Servi Churchwarden I've had about 5 years. 

Is it necessary to wax the bowl? No. And I think doing it every two or three times is drastic overkill. Waxing once or twice a year maybe. One thing that I've learned is that waxing will pull some of the color out but it will start to fade back which is why some say to wax more often. They are impatient. 

Getting wax inside the bowl will not ruin your pipe. You will just have to clean it out before smoking. Ideally you don't want cake to build in a Meerschaum so you don't have to worry about damaging the cake by cleaning out the wax. I did it once with a soft cloth soaked in 100 Proof grain alcohol.

When I did the "dunk" method, I sealed the bowl and airway with corks I bought at Hobby Lobby.

With the CAO, which is a figural, I haven't waxed it since the first time. With the Servi, I haven't dunked it again but I have taken a small chunk of beeswax and rubbed the hot bowl while smoking it. I then polish it with a soft cloth.

What some don't understand is that a meerschaum is going to color in the bottom and the stummel before it does the top of the bowl and you are not going to get a beautiful even colorization right away. The theory I've been told is that the bottom and the stummel colors first because the smoke in those areas are cooler. I have also been told that each pipe will color different because the meerschaum is different from pipe to pipe.

I have also been told that the type of tobacco you smoke and how often you smoke the pipe makes a difference in the colorization.

PappyJoe

Show and tell time. These are photos of my CAO I tried coloring a couple of years ago. I've had the pipe since 1984 but had to put it away for 15 years because one of my daughters allergies and asthma.

The first two photos are the before photos:

PappyJoe

The after photos

xDutchx

I've never waxed any of mine, for the most part because I am lazy.

loammi

@PappyJoe thanks for relating your experience with meerschaum.  I'm in no rush for the coloration to occur, I'm happy with the natural process to happen with my pipes. I wanted to make sure that waxing was not necessary for good maintenance of the meerschaum pipe and it sounds like it is not. It sounds like folks wax to enhance or speed up the coloration of these pipes.

It is interesting that all of my pipes have begun coloring at the bend in the stummel so that seems to be consistent with what you have heard.  I did read that aromatics are assumed to color meerschaum more quickly. I don't think that my meerschaums will color deeply in my lifetime but I do enjoy smoking them.

motie2

http:// www.pipesmagazine.com/blog/put-that-in-your-pipe/slave-to-the-white-goddess/

http://www.pipeandwine.com/2014/08/how-to-color-meerschaum-pipes/

http://blog.royalmeerschaumpipes.com/index.php/2009/11/coloring-your-meerschaum-pipe/

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