Bricks, Masonry, Asphalt and Concrete - Brick tuck pointing question

I am going to tuck point a exterior brick entryway that has a couple loose bricks on the top course and shrunken mortar joints. I went to the quickrete web site and I think I have a fair understanding of what I need to do to tuck point the joints. I have a couple of questions for the brick masons out there.

1. Will the tuck pointing stain the existing brick? It's an older house in Salem, Ma. I read a tread that mentioned staining.

2. Is a pastry bag or a mortar bag more of an advantage to get the mortar into the joints neatly and quickly? Will this cut down of the possibility of staining the brick? Saw an article on www. Hammerzone.com and they used a pastry bag.

3. A bag of ready mix seems like the best way to go. quickrete? Is it straight Portland cement or is there sand in the mix. Is it the same mix for a chimney? What about matching the existing mortar color? Will it set to about the same or will it be noticeably different?

Any help is appreciated
Thanks Geo.

The only way to tuckpoint the right way is to use proper tuckpointing tools, using a grout bag is too messy and will smear mortar all over the brick. There are alot of fly by night tuckpointers that will do more harm than good.

Thanks for responding, I decided to go with the standard practice, I found on the quickcrete web site. I did powerwash everything yesterday which blew alot of the debrie from the cracks and showed more loose motar joints. It's working out okay. Just a bit more work than first estimated.
Thanks again.