One of the nice things about running MeershcaumPipes.com website has to be all the questions that come in about people's meerchaum pipes. I thought it would be worthwhile to start documenting some of these, if nothing else, because we get some cool pictures of pipes to evaluate. Take this one for example (yes, she gave us permission to repost this thread):

-----Original Message----- 
From: Susan C
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2008 6:44 PM 
Subject: Question from MeerschaumPipes.com Website 
 
I have an old Meerschaum pipe carved with a horse running across a few 
logs and branches.  The pipe is richly colored but not just in shades, 
the back of the horse has a spotted area which has remained white.  
And there are a few other "spots" of white clearly intentionally 
placed.  The surface shows no signs of inlay...so ...where these areas 
treated with something to prevent them from coloring??? 

 

 

Our reply was:

Wow,
What a great old piece that is!

As for your questions on the coloration, yes, it is very natural for a heavily used meerschaum pipe to turn this color over time. Other examples and an explanation of the process can be found at http://meerschaumpipes.com/ColorYourMeerschaum.aspx

The variations that you see in the pipe itself (what you are referring to as brindle coloration) is caused by the stone itself as well as whatever was used to seal it at the time. For the last half of the 20th century, bees wax mixed with paraffin has been the preferred sealant. I'm guessing at the age of your piece that perhaps they were still using sperm whale oil for this but it is hard to tell from the photos.

The sealant acts to protect the exterior of the pipe and also to help "draw" the liquids and toxins out through the stone depositing color on the outer layer of the pipe. What is particularly interesting about this example is the "mottled" look on the horse's back. The lighter color on the nose and ears is probably the result of extended rubbing on the inside of the case; the back appears to be a different story. It is almost like the carver had placed a blocking sealant of some sort on portions of its back to give it the effect of an Appaloosa with a small blanket on it. The blocking sealant would prevent the color of the tobacco from seeping through those areas. From the looks of it, I would guess this was intentional rather than a happy accident.

If this was a pipe that you wished to keep for it's sentimental and artistic values, it could most likely be cleaned up to get rid of much (but not all) of the tobacco smell. After a really good cleaning and allowing it to sit out for a period of time, the majority of the objectionable aroma should be gone. At that point, you could probably mount it inside a sealed shadow box and have a great decorative piece for a horse lover.

If you were looking to sell it, I would suggest that you place it online on PipeTrader.com as well as Ebay to find a buyer. We could also sell this on consignment for you in our Estate Pipes section of the Tobacco-Barn.com website.Antique meerschaum pipes rarely get high dollar values from anyone but one who collects them for artistic purposes rather than for smoking them.

We wish you the best of luck with your pipe and want to thank you for sharing these photos with us.

I stumbled upon this piece titled "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" by Steve Johnson of the Southwest Pipe & Cigar League just the other day while working on plans for their next meeting there at the Barn.

Reading it brought back some great memories of the various trips to London that I'd had with one of my previous employers. His words brought back mental images of many of the locations he mentions.

The only downside for me was that I wasn't a pipe smoker then AND I didn't have such a great roadmap of tobacconists in London. I frequented the Seegar and Snuff shop in Covent Gardens most of the time I was there. I never got down to the Dunhill shop he mentions during business hours.

Oh well, perhaps if the Dollar ever goes back up against the Pound or the Euro, I'll be able to afford another trip back... If I do, I'll have this as a guide.

Links mentioned in Steve's article:

• The Pipe Club of London - http://www.pcol.co.uk/
• J.J. Fox - http://www.jjfox.co.uk/static/
• Davidoff of London - http://www.davidoffoflondon.com/
• Map and info for George Smith & Sons - http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/Shopping/G_Smith__Sons/703f/

Interesting thread about meerschaum pipes on a non-pipe forum over at the Straight Razor Place.

The posting by mparker762 showing off a couple of his best colored pipes includes the darkened claw shown at right.

In a subsequent posting, he extols the virtues of using a coloring bowl:

As for coloring, a coloring bowl like the one shown with the Cavalier is really the secret. I've got three coloring bowls, a smooth meer, a pebbled meer (shown w/ Cavalier), and an XL briar coloring bowl made for me by Mike Butera after much hounding. AFAIK it's the only one in existence, and I use it for smoking my english tobaccos in my meerschaums.

With results like these, it is hard to argue with the man. One thing that I found particularly interesting was that the claws darkened up so much more so than the bowl. I would have imagined this to be the case with the shank but seems odd to me that the talons on the claw would be so dark given the path coloring must travel to reach that portion of the stone.

Anyone else have any great coloration samples to share? You've seen, mine, now show me yours!