Mike,  Here's a question I have not thought of in over 35 yrs.  Why
were/are green cement blocks more expensive?  Way back when I was married
to a different fella we built a house using split face cement blocks.  I
orginally wanted green but they wanted ten cents a block more for green,
all other colors were one price. The green pigment musta cost more, or they didn't sell enough green block to make stocking it worthwhile.  Back when I used to do stained glass work, I was told red glass cost more than other colors because it had gold in it.  We used brown instead. Smart move.  Otherwise you'da been living in  a booger-green, split face block house, and who wants that?

We used brown mortar, it was brown all the way through, why mix up 2
batches just to make the inside and outside 2 different colors.  Don't know
whether it was natural or unnatural cement but the house is still standing. Is the ex still standing?  Or was he more of the lying type?
I handled every block in that house at least twice and some more than that.And people wonder why labor costs are high!
Ruth  Ralph