Question: Just a question about coloring/wax. Do all the meerschaum pipes come waxed and does it matter if you don't wax them? I understand that people like the look of waxed pipes and think it aids there coloring but have seen some conflicting info on this - one person who seemed very knowledgeable about all this on youtube didn't seem to think it mattered and that the pipe will be fine without it and that each pipe colors differently regardless of wax/touching/and so on... but I wanted to ask.

Answer:

All of our meerschaum pipes are dipped into hot bee's wax. Meerschaum is a very porous material. After the carving process we sand each pipe with 4 different grits of sandpaper and after we dip them in to hot bee's wax. We cover the bowl with a cork and the draft hole it not drilled at all at this stage so the wax doesn't get inside of the pipe. 

After we leave the pipe in the wax for at least 3 to 5 minutes we take it off from the wax and let it dry and hand-polish it with soft cloth. For some pipes this process is repeated. 

All the outer porous little cells are filled with wax so it makes the material stronger and makes it more shiny. There is no need for you to wax your new meerschaum pipe at least for 4-5 years if you use everyday or very often. If you don't use this often you don't need for decades. 

What some customers like is wax hi-lites the coloring of the pipe. It exaggerates, it hi-lites so you get a quicker coloring in short time. If you want your pipe to look brown in a very short time re-waxing it will do it. It will double or triple up the color shade in a short time. It is not necessary, I prefer it to color naturally but some people want it to be quicker. That's why they wax their meerschaum pipes all the time.