Still trying in vain to get my Meerschaum to change color, but I guess I don't smoke it enough. The only noticeable discoloration is right around the bowl itself.
@ghostsofpompeii - From what I've been told there are a lot of variables in getting a meerschaum to color.
First is how often you smoke it and, I've been told, what tobacco you smoke. I have been led to believe that English or Virginia blends color faster. If you smoke it everyday it will color faster than if you smoke it once or twice a month.
Secondly, block meerschaum will color, composite meerschaum will not. Composite meerschaum is the stuff that is basically meerschaum powder mixed with some type of adhesive and then molded. Block meerschaum is that which is mined and cut into solid blocks.
Third, if you want to bring out the color faster either dip or coat it with melted white beeswax. I have one old meerschaum which I plugged the bowl with a cork and dipped into melted beeswax for a couple of minutes. The hot beeswax pulled the color out of the pipe. I have another one where I've actually "painted" the melted beeswax on to the hot bowl.
Four, the bowls are going to color from the stem and bottom first because that's where the smoke is most concentrated while smoking.
Five, not every meerschaum pipe is the same. Each piece will color differently than another.
Heres a before and after of my first attempt at drawing out the coloring:
@ghostsofpompeii I agree with PappyJoe's excellent info. I had a meer that I smoked and smoked with no color but when I hit it with some beeswax it immediately showed color and has deepened with smoking. Any hints on cleaning the exterior of a stained or discolored meer bowl?
I keep reading that sepiolite (that's the actual name of what we call meerschaum) is only "found" in Turkey. That isn't 100% correct as sepiolite is also found in Africa, Greece, Moravia, France, Spain and in the United States (Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Utah). Not being a mineralogist, I can't make any comments on the quality of meerschaum found in locations other than Turkey but the experts in Turkey always claim theirs is the best and anything else is of such low quality that it is useless. Without further data to back that statement up, I would say it carries about the same weight as Budweiser claiming to be the "King of Beers."
The occurrence of Meerschaum (aka sepiolite) deposits in Somalia has been known for some time, and were mentioned in 1987 in a review of world reserves of this clay mineral.
Comments
I agree with PappyJoe's excellent info. I had a meer that I smoked and smoked with no color but when I hit it with some beeswax it immediately showed color and has deepened with smoking.
Any hints on cleaning the exterior of a stained or discolored meer bowl?
US $550.00 at eBay
pamphlet attached