Meer colouration

I have had my DragonClaw Meerschaum in a tin can, using this method to colourize it faster, than by merely smoking it (which can take forever). When I first started the colouring I had smoked the pipe maybe some twenty times and it had only turned a slight pinkish hue as in the first picture.
By now it has stayed in the tin for almost half a year, and I may have smoked it up to another fifty times (not sure),but more importantly, I have filled the tin with smoke from my other pipes every time I have remembered to do so when lighting up and seeing the tin: "Yeah, that's right, the Meer colouring in the tin" (second picture). I have taken a deep sip, and gently twisting the lid open by a fraction of an inch, filled the tin with smoke and closed it again. Sometimes I have even ended the smoke session by repeating this.
Well, now it seems my hard work ;) has payed off (third and fourth picture). The Meer is a nice "old bone" yellow overall and some of the carvings are starting to turn brown, especially in the shank. I have re-waxed the pipe once in this period and this seemed to help the colouring a lot, even though it soon paled back to where it is now. The only concern I have now, is the fact that the saturation of the colouring seems "inverted" so to speak as to what one would have expected if the pipe had coloured form the inside out. The crevices and cuttings are lighter then the ridges of the carving!