Quotetoby2 - 3/20/2013 6:30 AM
QuoteVroomp - 3/20/2013 8:07 AM nice pipe! I guess you already know not to touch it with your oily hands right? To develop that nice red color it can't have oils from hands on it or it turns brown.
I read somewhere that the ones from Turkey don't change color that well. ROTHNH always has the facts on stuff like that though.
very cool pipe. I want one myself.
The bulk of all meerschaum comes from Turkey, and typically the best meerschaum is found in Turkey. However, depending on how far down the meerschaum was mined will determine the quality and size of the blocks. Being that this pipe was carved in 1962, chances are its a higher quality meerschaum as today's meerschaum pipes are being made from meerschaum blocks that have been mined in other area's around the world.
As for the not touching of the meerschaum, I don't buy into any of that crap. It's a pipe and it's to be held like a pipe. I don't think the generation of pipe smokers from the hey-day of pipe smoking ever babied their meerschaums. It will color just fine by handling it. I've seen plenty of great looking colored meerschaum pipes that have been handled just like a regular pipe. As long as your hands are clean and not dirty from working in the yard, garage etc. while handling the pipe it should color just fine. Besides that a deep chocolate brown is a typical color change for meerschaum pipes. Again the quality of the meerschaum and the amount it's smoked will determine the color of the pipe, (red, amber, brown etc.)