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Meerschaums have been popular for far longer than briar pipes and maintain an enthusiastic following. Briar wasn't introduced as an accepted and durable material for pipes until the late 1800s, after all, and previous to that meerschaum was king. It's a remarkably neutral material, and many profess that it is an accurate medium for tasting pure tobacco unmodified by the flavor characteristics of briar. Add to that the intricate, artisanal carving that so many meerschaums reflect, and you have yourself quite a pipe.
From the beginning, the coloring of meerschaums from smoking has been an important consideration. While virgin meerschaum is a beautiful material, the warm reds and mahoganies that slowly envelop a meerschaum over years of smoking have been admired by pipe smokers for centuries. A well-colored meerschaum is a thing of remarkable beauty, and enthusiasts have gone to great trouble to promote these deep and soothing tones for their pipes.
There are stories of wealthy men a hundred or more years ago who hired people to smoke their meerschaums for them around the clock to promote coloring. Some keep their meerschaums in gallon jars into which they blow tobacco smoke, so that the surface of the pipe absorbs color. Some fill their bowls with wet tobacco and let them sit, absorbing color from the mixture, though there is little evidence that this strategy works efficiently (though if you know better, I'd enjoy hearing from you).
American pipe carving legend Mike Butera mentioned in an article in Pipes and tobaccos magazine (vol. 7, no. 1) that different tobaccos initially generate different coloration in meerschaums, with Latakia and aromatics promoting more in the purple wavelength, while Virginias and Burleys yield more golden tones. Any tobacco, though, will eventually produce a pipe of rich burgundy, if smoked long enough.
Unevenly colored meerschaum pipes
One thing most of us have heard about is pressed meerschaum, for which chips of meerschaum, also known as sepiolite, are crushed and refashioned as blocks by a bonding material. It is used mainly for meerschaum tampers and other accessories, such as for some meerschaum caps on Calabash pipes, and only the cheapest pipes are at risk of being pressed (we do not sell pressed meerschaum pipes at Smokingpipes, new or estate, if you were wondering). Pressed meerschaum will not color, no matter how much you smoke it. Block meerschaum is best for pipes, with the even consistency of the material better able to absorb color, as well as smoking much better and cooler than its pressed replica.
Even block meerschaums don't color evenly, at least at first. Sepiolite is a relatively rare type of clay, and as a natural product, contains variations in density and porosity throughout, resulting in uneven absorption of color. Most often, the shanks of meerschaums color first and darkest, perhaps because that is where the moisture and tobacco residue collect during combustion. However, different pipes will simply color differently.
The archives here at Smokingpipes provide images of the estate meerschaums we've sold, and their coloring is rarely even, except for pipes that have clearly been smoked for many years. Most of our estates reflect only minimal coloring, sometimes with the shank darker, sometimes with the beard of a Sultan carving darkening first, or the nose. They do seem to color from the bottom up, however. Perhaps we see few well-colored estates because owners do not give them up.
I smoke primarily briars, but I do enjoy a couple of meerschaums and have worked at coloring them. I'm down to only two now, having broken my best-colored piece on the driveway a few years back. I have smoked the others around 15-20 times year for the past 15 years, and am seeing results. I smoke one of them normally and it has picked up some fair color, mainly at the heel. The other I smoke exclusively with a coloring bowl, and I've had pretty good results so far. Here's a photo, with the rusticated Butera coloring bowl that I've used since I started smoking this pipe.
Michael Butera Coloring Bowl
Coloring bowls have been around for a very long time. The George Zorn Tobacconist catalog of 1892 lists them in briar or meerschaum, with briar bowls costing $1.50 per dozen, imitation meerschaum for $2.00 a dozen, and genuine meerschaum bowls assessed at the dizzying sum of $6.00 a dozen. They are far more expensive now, but in fairness, skilled wage earners were lucky to be paid $2 a day in the 1890s, so they were expensive then, too.
The Zorn catalog specifies that coloring bowls work best when a piece of blotting paper is placed in the heel of the bowl to absorb and distribute the collateral moisture of combustion. I've not tried that, because I suspect it will cause the heel and shank to color faster than the bowl, but I like the results of the coloring bowl without such a method. I don't believe it's any faster, but the evenness of color, when compared to pipes smoked normally, is indisputable. I hope that by the time I retire it will be darker and richer, but I'll need to smoke it more regularly.
If you're a meerschaum enthusiast, you know the pain and the triumph of coloring a meerschaum. If you've not tried a coloring bowl, and you're on a quest for more even color tones on your cherished pipes, I recommend them. They're weird to smoke at first, with that bowl towering above the pipe, and you have to find the right pipe rest to accommodate such an apparatus, but the results are worthwhile.
Smokingpipes used to carry Butera coloring bowls, but they are no longer manufactured. We have just started carrying IMP coloring bowls, however, if you have an interest in deep, evenly colored meerschaums. Even without one, though, everyone owes themselves at least one meerschaum to enjoy and watch evolve over the years as a reflection of your commitment to the beautification of smoking instruments.
Hand-carved IMP coloring bowls
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Comments
I was not aware that there was a such thing as pressed meerschaums. I believe, now, that the one meer I had a while back did not color due to this process. I have only been smoking briars the past 3 years so maybe I'll give a meerschaum a go again. I do love the rich colors that appear. Nothing beats it.
Holy Smoke Chuck! I’ve been smoking pipes including Meerschaums for 50 years and never heard of a coloring bowl! After reading your article I Googled them and found a number of videos about them on YouTube. Don’t know how I missed out on them?
I've been smoking meerschaums for nigh on 40 years. I did a bit of research into 'coloring' and found some pretty esoteric recommendations (besides hiring surrogate smokers).
I've tried smoking bowls, loading on top of half-smoked bowls, the "gallon jar" method, smoking until only warm, etc. with mixed results.
My theory is similar to yours, i.e. nicotine deposits and moisture BUT also considers temperature. Notice how the hottest parts of the pipe "bleach" or are slow to color.
Here's the method I've found best for deeply and evenly coloring meerschaums. Wax them regularly with clear beeswax. (I use a hard mixture with some natural oil like EVOO or others. Whale oil as originally mentioned is ethically difficult and hard to come by) The wax not only penetrates over time, but acts as a carrier for the coloring agents which result from smoking. I use temperature and a fine bristle brush to get into the crevices (for the lattice pipes).
I introduced this method to my pipe club and all have had satisfactory results.
I wish this site allowed attaching pictures.
Long ago I was advised by a tobacconist to only handle my meer by the stem to avoid "staining" the bowl. I discarded the idea as being silly after trying to smoke a pipe with such delicacy. Glad I did. That pipe now has a pleasant light brown tinge on it's outermost surfaces,
Much good information in this site. I'm well into my 83rd. year. Smoked pipes 60 years on and off. Never heard of a coloring bowl. Would liked to have had one.
I bought a bulk pack of tobbaco. I believe it was 5lbs of Virgina blend. I put my meerschaum pipe (removed the stem of course) in a smoker hanging from a string. I burnt the 5lbs of tobacco in the smoker adding water for steam. My pipe is a beautiful chocolate brown color. It also changes color when smoking it. The color moves as it warms and cools.
Am interested in collecting meerschaum pipes,etc.
I started smoking pipes at the age 15 and have a nice collection now being 68. As far as meerschaum pipes go,I have heard all kinds of don't do this and don't do that.
I did listen to some of it. The 6 or 8 smokes I do hold the stem only.But after that the heck with it. Never had a problem.
I had a friend in Belgium who had a meerschaum with a lovely mottled yellow finish which he achieved by stitching a chamois cover tightly around the pipe. I don't remember how long it took.
I own thirteen meerschaums of various sizes, shapes and configurations. The estate pipes are the oldest with some over 100 years of smoking. Those made more recently are usually signed by the artist with names like Paktas, S Cosgun, Keenan and Sadik Yanik. I've also tried my hand at making pipes with meerschaum bowls. They all color differently and in different ways depending on the wax used. I haven't tried waxing any of them except to repair the odd chip or two. I do own two meerschaum coloring bowls but don't notice a whole lot of difference in how the pipes color is effected.
How to tell a block meerschaum from a pressed one? Price is surely one guide, but what are other indicators?Has anyone tried soy wax, a natural wax allegedly purer than beeswax, I'm also interested in super-refined petroleum wax, which is so pure that (like Vaseline) it can be eaten.
I have 4 meerschaum pipes, only three of which I have smoked. I have been smoking my latest one for three years now and it is coloring up nicely. Perhaps this is a long time to get any coloring, I don't know. I do know you do get the stem to color after a time or two and the bowl will show a change from the white but not to any great extend after a week or so. I smoke between 4 and 6 bowls a day. 2 at noon, 2 at 6 pm and 2 at 10:pm. I don't smoke any particular mixture but I do use mostly Cornell & Diehl tobaccos. I also wax the pipe monthly with beeswax.