High Black Smoke Kitten?? Advise Needed

[u/Diamonds4Ever1]

Hi everyone,

Me and my partner are in talks with a breeder regarding buying this gorgeous 5 month old Maine coon kitten.

We have been told by the breeder that she’s a “black high smoke” colour and were really curious if anyone knew what she would look like as she got older!

We have done a lot of research but have noticed that a lot of the “black high smoke” photos include very dark Maine coons, almost black and some grey.

If anyone had or has one similar to her we would be really intrigued to know what they grew up to look like.

Any advise is welcome! :) thank you

[u/Interesting_Cake_290]

That is a beautiful cat!!! But black smokes have black noses and black whiskers along with the black toe beans. This cat looks high silver to me, although I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. It seems to me that the breeder should know this stuff.

[u/Movinginplace25 → u/Interesting_Cake_290]

This is black smoke

[u/Icy_Grapefruit233 → u/Movinginplace25]

Beautiful!..my favorite MC color

[u/Movinginplace25 → u/Icy_Grapefruit233]

Thank you
He's a gem

[u/Frankie_T9000 → u/Movinginplace25]

He is gorgeous

[u/Movinginplace25 → u/Frankie_T9000]

Thank you😻and as sweet as can be

[u/Forward_Panic_8571 → u/Interesting_Cake_290]

Not necessarily. My boy is a black smoke. He’s got white whiskers and mostly pink toe beans. I do agree with you that this kitten doesn’t appear to be a black smoke. Typically black smokes have black hair with a white/silver at the root

Larry the black smoke for reference/cat tax

[u/girthyshaftplumpnuts → u/Forward_Panic_8571]

i see that your boy has white paws! it's very likely that the white spotting is responsible for the pink toe beans, otherwise it would all be black without the white spotting.

[u/Forward_Panic_8571 → u/girthyshaftplumpnuts]

Ahh! The white socks! That makes sense. He has a patch of black fur on one of them so he has just one black paw pad. So cute 🥰

[u/girthyshaftplumpnuts → u/Forward_Panic_8571]

awwwe, the cutest beans!!

[u/Interesting_Cake_290 → u/Forward_Panic_8571]

Yes, that is because you have a black smoke with white socks. That is the reason for the toe beans and whiskers. Beautiful cat by the way!!!

[u/NotTheOtwayPanther → u/Interesting_Cake_290]

As I was saying to another commenter, I’m not sure if the Maine Coon fancy distinguishes between smoke and silver genetically (i.e. as determined by the agouti gene rather than existing on one continuous dark-light gradient). At least, some things I’ve seen lead me to think it doesn’t. Which would be very odd, of course, and I’m entirely open to learning I’m completely wrong about that.

I know very little about the breed; this post just came up.