The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1884-10-02

Some OF the Troubles That Smokers Have
In CoIoring Their Pet Pipes.

Some OF the Troubles That Smokers Have
In Coloring Their Pet Pipes.
Smokers are continually writing to
me to ask how to take care of their
meerschaum pipes" said dealer Of
Fulton street. From that infer that
not half of the owners of meerschaum
pipes know how to handle them. The
NEST common complaint is that their
meerschaum will not turn from the
natural yellowish-white color to rich
brown, even after the smokers have
smoked themselves into the color of a
dried mummy in the effort. If the pipe
Is of good meerschaum, there is no
reasc why it should not take color.
If it does not do so, then the fault lies
with the smoker. In what way? Why
the purchaser of new meerschaum,
worth perhaps $50, thinks night and
day about the toy, and is SO anxious to
color it that he overdoes it. He finds
that he has burned" his pipe, as he ex-
presses it. To explain why you can
spoil pipe in this way, You must un-
derstand how the meerschaum is pre-
pared. After the artist has finished
cutting the design and has shaped the
bowl, the finished pipe is boiled In
wax. Why in wax? Because the wax
penetrates the pores for short dis
lance beneath the surface and serves to
keep the coloring matter in the pipe.
The coloring matter is the oil OF to-
bacco, not nicotine as many enormously
suppose, and it sinks into the meer-
schaum, which is simply a very fine,
porous clay, and is stopped by the wax
before it is driven out at the outer sur
face by the heat inside. If it were not
for the wax the coloring matter would
pass out and get rubbed of, and the
pipe would never be colored. A glaz-
ing of glass would do as well as wax,
but wax is the cheapest material that
has been found for the purpose. Now,
when overanxious smokers try to hurry
the process of coloring by smoking
pipeful after pipeful of tobacco the
wax is driven out, leaving the pipe raw
and dry. The nearer to the top of the
bowl the wax is kept the finer it will
look when colored. If this was more
generally known you would not see so
many meerschaum pipes with a dirty,
light-yellow ring around the top where
the oil has been forced out by over
smoking. The smoker should take a
long, slow pull at the pipe, and after
one pipeful is exhausted the pipe should
be laid down to cool off before it is
filed again"
at seems to be an art with very little
fun in it, this coloring meerschaum
pipe"
"Smoke temporarily, my boy, as you
should do everything else, and there's
no troubleor disappointment following
Next to coloring pipe, L have most
complaints about finding the pipe
broken when no one has been using it.
If smokers would take care not to take
their pipes while they are smoking
from q warm room into cold room, or
out of doors in winter, they would not
find their pipes broken SO often.
Another thing, the article should not
be laid on marble mantel or other
cold substance Immediately after smok-
ing. Fine meerschanms with delicate
carvings are sure to crack. The reason
is that when heated the pipe expands,
and, in too suddenly contracting, it
snaps"
at seems that meerschaum pipe
needs as much attention as n baby"
"Thats mistake. You can take too
much care of it. Many smokers begin
by making close cover of chamois
leather to fit the pipe, so that they will
not have to handle the bowl After
they have smoked for while, and are
curious to see how the coloring is going
on, they take off the chamois skin
covering, and behold, the pipe is
covered with blotches, and it is ruined.
The chamois skin has absorbed the
wax while the pipe was hot. 1t is dan
gerous to put any covering on the
bowl"
"Must the bowl never be touched 2"
"Not while the pipe is hot. Then
the wax on the outside is disturbed,
and if there is perspiration on the
fingers gray spot appears wherever
the bowl is touched. AS TO the effect
of perspiration on the bowl, have two
customers who cannot keep pipe
colored. 1t turns out an ashy gray. l
have even had bowls colored for them,
but it was just the same. In q few
months they turned the same color. In
all my experience / have heard of only
these two whose pipes served them
such trick. "-Ne,C York Sun.
Death i'm the Dish. Cloth.