Turbocat’s Meerschaum Rehab Program

First things first, Ted. A thread on restoring meerschaum pipes is a great idea! I will be following closely. I don't know anything about caring for meerschaum, so I'm looking forward to learning about something new.
Secondly, great job on that billiard! Can't wait to see more!

Nice restoration job on a pipe medium that oft times does not get the respect it deserves. I love all of my meerschaum pipes and there will be a great amount of Meerschaums available on the market as the generation before us moves on.

Well done, a spiffy looking specimen that you have there!

This is gonna be good. I wouldn't even know where to start with meerschaum. Amber, either, for that matter. Just mild abrasives and elbow grease, huh? Now you should explain what's superior about Trewax.

That billiard looks worlds better after you worked it over. I know I'm not a collector, but as a smoker I would pay more for it in that condition than where it was before. I'd be much less concerned about my ignorance of the material leading to some kind of unrecoverable failure just from smoking and cleaning it.

I'm not surprised. It'd be easy for somebody like that to think he knows what he's doing.

Great work Turbo! I like the character mark left on the rim, as you said it helps keep the history of the pipe. For someone looking to delve into meerschaum pipes, what would you recommend? Is there a new manufacturer you prefer or would it better to try to find and restore an estate pipe? From the little research I've done it sounds like new meerschaum pipes are softer for some reason.

Thank you for the recommendations! Being new to the hobby, meerschaum is intriguing but also an intimidating investment as I'm still getting my feet wet with cobs and briars.

Wax for Meerschaum Pipes 

I thought I would hopefully explain what I’ve learned through the years and why and how I use what wax I do now. Also it seemed better than piecemeal trickling of this information as I show pipes I’m working on. 

Beeswax and why I don’t use it-

There is a trend in more recent times to wax meerschaum pipes with beeswax. I believe this is largely due to Yanik meerschaum pipes, some of the most recognized and beautiful modern pipes made going back to the 1980’s. Yanik, both the father and son started advertising the fact that their pipes are waxed with “Pure, natural, creamy beeswax”.

Soon, other pipe makers started doing the same. It’s a great contemporary marketing buzz phrase and because meerschaum is an unfamiliar product to most people, it’s easy to assume that “Pure, natural, creamy beeswax” is better than whatever other pipe makers were using.

There are some reasons that beeswax is better, but they are all for the benefit of the pipe maker, not for the smoker. First and foremost, beeswax gives meerschaum a slight color that makes it appear ivory like and where it is applied thicker in crevasses and details, although subtle, that affect is darker, giving the pipes a more 3D look in photos, adding a sense of depth. It can look really good. Second, it is WAY easier to apply than traditional waxes for the pipe maker (but not the end user) They plug the bowl (not always and that’s really bad) and the vent hole in the shank, dip the whole pipe in beeswax and then hang it up to cool. Once it is, simple hand buffing with terry cloth and it’s done. Great for a production line. With traditional waxing, it requires carefully polishing the small surfaces by hand of details to produce a quality job. Add being able to say “Pure, natural, creamy” etc. about your product and it’s a win for the pipe maker. They also make claims that it’s better for coloring as you smoke the pipe. Easily said but impossible to prove. From my experience it’s a myth but that’s another topic for another time.

For the smoker there are a number of things that are not so good about beeswax. The biggest problem with it is it’s soft. Why does anything like pipes, furniture, cars, etc. get waxed? The primary reason is to protect the surface and finish of the item and secondarily for aesthetics. Things usually look better waxed. A soft wax such as beeswax is a weak surface protector. A bigger issue than that though, it’s always ever so slightly tacky. It collects dust, fibers, dirt and oil from hands, etc. this only gets worse when it gets softer when it’s warm. Some of all of that gets imbedded into the surface. I won’t even bother discussing the difficulty of re-waxing with it if you’re not set up to dip it in a pot of melted wax.

If you’re still committed to using beeswax I would highly encourage you to buy refined cosmetics grade, which looks like this:



Waxes that were used on antique and vintage pipes-

I don’t want to write a history of wax but I thought I should touch on it. A number of years ago, I found and read what I could about waxes in the 18th and 19th century. It seems for the most part, with one major exception, the technology around wax didn’t change much until the advent of petroleum based waxes, mostly in the 1930’s to 1940’s. The major component that was removed earlier was whale oil. In summary, the old waxes could be replicated today but why? They were often made with exotic plant and insect derived waxes and whale oil, while not totally unobtainable, is super rare, expensive and possibly illegal to import.

My experiment and why I settled on Trewax-



About 12 years ago, mostly out of simple curiosity, I waxed a billiard meerschaum pipe with four different waxes in strips and smoked the pipe for about a year. I used beeswax, Trewax, and two others that I can’t remember. Long story short, one that I can’t remember the brand of looked and held up great, but started to discolor a bit, so it was out. The beeswax and the other were the worst results, leaving the Trewax, which looked great, held up great and showed no negative properties. I’m sure there are better waxes available for waxing a meerschaum pipe, but I found something I liked and stopped trying others. I’ve used it ever since. It’s easy to apply and polish to a beautiful gloss and it holds up extremely well. I’ve also never had any undesirable reaction to whatever waxes were already present on the pipes. I only use it on the meerschaum. By the way, I would discourage any type of waxing on antique amber stems. Like meerschaum, amber is a unique material that has its own set of preferences for its treatment and repair. But that’s a different topic.


I’ll be posting a wax and polishing job on an unused meerschaum pipe later in the week.

Is coloring from the shank up (or maybe the heel out?) typical? I guess I always just assumed it happened uniformly - more or less - over the entire surface.

Lotta good knowledge getting shared in this thread. Thanks.

Thanks Urb and Bob!

Yes it does. Great pipe Charlie.

I thought the same as soon as I read the first post.

"Ahhhh, great!"

My newest project. This is a cleanup and waxing of a never used, but likely 20-25 year old meerschaum pipe. This is more a statement of my obsessive-compulsive tendencies than necessary work on this pipe, as the pipe was fine to just start smoking the way it was, but I wanted it to look its best and stay that way.

This pipe was waxed with beeswax when it was finished by the pipe maker some years ago. Beeswax can go dull over time and feel waxy like handling a candle and that was the case here. Simply taking a clean cloth and buffing it by hand would have glossed it up some and been fine to start smoking. But I am sure it’s been handled over time and there was some dust and fibers, etc. stuck to it. Plus I want a better wax coat on it. Also I noticed a few minor surface marks left over from when the pipe was made and now is the time to clean those up.









I started by removing the stem and wiping off the meerschaum with 99% isopropyl alcohol to remove the existing wax. I use a paper towel, wipe it down, then a fresh paper towel wet with more alcohol and wipe it down again.

Next I looked for the little imperfections in the finishing of the meerschaum. I decided to do a light polish. I started with 30 micron polishing paper and worked the areas that needed attention, then I went over the entire pipe with 15 micron paper to finish it. After that, I wiped it down with alcohol again for a final cleaning and to remove dust.

Then I applied two coats of wax. The stem is nicely made acrylic and needed nothing. About 15 minutes total of work (not including wax drying time between coats) and I’m happy with it and I know that it’s ready to go for the long haul. It’s rare I would do this kind of treatment to a new pipe, but vintage “new” ones that have been handled, etc. I like to take the extra step. Here’s the finished wax/polish job-