MISSOURI MEERSCHAUM CORN COB PIPES

 

For my 75th Birthday Celebration, 13 members of my family and I took the train from Sedalia MO to Washington MO and crossed the street to the famous MISSOURI MEERSCHAUM CORN COB PIPE Factory.  (Of course we also visited Wimpy's Sandwich Shop and the Downtown Riverfront Playground.)  It was fun!  Some family members bought pipes, etc., and whenever I took a second look at anything, someone would grab it from me and go buy it at the counter!

 The following article is from the May 1947 issue of PIPE LOVERS magazine:

CORNCOB CITY

On the Banks of the Missouri River Lies The Little German Town of Washington, Home and Birthplace of the Corncob Pipe

By GENE HARRISON

WASHINGTON, Missouri, is just like any other small mid-western town on the banks of the Missouri River, except that it turns out 14,500,000 pipes a year, and they're all made of corncobs!  No wonder this little German community is known the world over as "Corncob City."

There's a strange, spicy odor in the air as one steps off the train 54 minutes after leaving St. Louis.  Walking across the street and turning a few steps to the right of the station which squats on the bank of the river, the odor grows sweeter, and high, clear sounds of machinery break the morning stillness.

Here the visitor comes upon a long, white building with some of its doors open to the street.  Inside huge slatted bins remind him of his grandfather's corncribs.  That fragrance smells like them, too.  Stripped of their kernels, the plumpest red and white corn cobs imaginable fill bins to the rafters.

Another long building, brick red in color, stands opposite the first.  It has similar doors, healthy cobs, and cheerful clattering inside.

On the side of the large white building is a big picture of Irvin S. Cobb, the late author.  This is the Hirschl-Bendheim Company.  Huge letters on the brick structure inform the visitor that this is the home of the Missouri Meerschaum Company.

Upon entering the offices, the visitor finds the owners eager to relate the history of the town, of its 6,500 inhabitants, and of the early founding of the industry.  How the corncob pipe first came into existence is a favorite story the townspeople love to tell.

THE FIRST pipe to be made from a corncob is credited to a farmer who, in the year 1869, walked into Henry Tibbe's carpenter shop and slowly drew out of his pocket a section of hollowed-out corncob in which a hole had been bored near the base.

"I wonder," he asked Tibbe, "if you would put this piece of cob on your lathe and sort of smooth off the outer side?"

Tibbe, more or less puzzled at the unusual request, took the cob and placed it on his wood lathe, then applied a chisel which in a few seconds had smoothed off the outside of the cob.

He handed it back to the farmer, still wondering what use would be made of it.  The farmer nodded his thanks, withdrew a long, hollowed out reed stem from his pocket, and inserted it in a hole in one side of the cob near the base.

Tibbe became more interested than ever.  He stopped to give his full attention to the Missouri farmer.

With the stem now firmly imbedded in the side of the cob, the farmer then took a packet of tobacco from his hip pocket and proceeded to fill his hand made pipe.  Applying a match, he again nodded his approval as he opened the door and made his exit amid a puff of white smoke.

At first Tibbe smiled and turned back to his lathe.  "What won't they think up next?" he thought, and then as the smoke drifted towards his nostrils he took a whiff of it.  It was rather sweet and fragrant, at that.  Perhaps that farmer had something after all.  He would have to look into this idea of making a pipe from a corncob.

HIS INTEREST in the new idea rising steadily, Tibbe decided to get a few corncobs and experiment.  He chose the largest ones, for they would not only be the easiest to work with on the lathe, but he knew that pipe smokers, then as now, preferred their pipes with large bowls.

He tried out the pipes, and although they smoked well, they didn't stand up like he thought they should.  The outer surfaces were rough and uneven, and were not comfortable in the hand.  No operation on the lathe would remedy the situation.  After a few smokes the pipe was ready to be discarded.

Tibbe thought there should be some way to retain the sweet smoke of the corncob, to give the pipe durability, and to make it last longer than just a few smokes.

No chemist himself, Tibbe wandered into the town drugstore and asked Ludwig Muench, the druggist, what he thought.  "It gives a fine smoke," said Tibbe, "but it doesn't last long and isn't durable enough.  Got any ideas?"

Muench stroked his chin as he looked at the odd looking pipe.  After several minutes of deliberation he said, "I dunno.  Seems like something on the order of plaster of Paris might do the job, but I wouldn't make any guess as to whether or not the quality of the smoke would be impaired."

"I don't think that would work," replied Tibbe.  "I can't imagine a worse smoke than plaster of Paris."

"Well, if it were put only on the outside, that might be enough, and how could you taste it if it didn't come in contact with the burning tobacco on the inside?" was the answer. 

"Let's experiment," said Tibbe as he had the pharmacist wrap up a small quantity of the material.

BACK IN HIS STORE he got to work.  Later in the day the druggist, who had become interested in the project, wandered in and asked how things were coming.  "Got some drying now," said the carpenter.  "Tomorrow I'll give 'em a try."

The first test indicated that Tibbe was on the right track.  By covering the spongy places with the plaster of Paris preparation, the pipe bowl became quite hard and durable and the base was solid.  The pipe withstood repeated smokes and the sweetness was retained.

"Wonder what the public will think of them?" thought the new pipe manufacturer.  "There's one way to find out."  So he made up a half dozen and stuck them in his window with a price tag of 5¢ each.

At first nothing happened.  Then one day a fellow strolled in the store in search of some carpentry work.  On his way out he spied the pipes.  "Hey," he called, "what are these?"

"New kind of pipe," replied Tibbe.  "Made of corncobs."

"Any good?" asked the customer.

"That's for you to say after you've tried one," was the reply.

He took one, parting with a nickel, and left.

In due time the word began to spread that a new kind of pipe could be had for a nickel down at Tibbe's carpenter shop.  The six were soon gone, and Tibbe made some more.  Soon these, too, were sold, and he found more of his time was being taken up in the making of these corncob pipes. 

"Think we should patent the process?" he asked his son, Anton, one day.

"Might be a good idea," was Anton's opinion.  So the new process was patented, and three years later father and son incorporated as the Missouri Meerschaum Company.  That was in 1872, and this year the company is celebrating their 75th year in the business which resulted from a farmer's effort to obtain a sweeter smoke.

THE NEW COMPANY soon learned that their next problem was the distribution of their pipes.  Making them is one thing.  Getting them to the ultimate consumer is something else again.  They obtained a nation-wide outlet for their pipes through Hirschl and Bendheim, St. Louis jobbers, in 1879.

Mass production then began.  Until the Tibbe patents expired, the company enjoyed a monopoly, and the trademarked name of the company became so well known that any corncob pipe was referred to as a "Missouri Meerschaum."  Now there are several factories which make pipes from the immortal corncob—the Hirschl-Bendheim Company in Washington, and others located in small towns farther up on the Missouri River.  Some of these are branch factories of the Washington firms, which were built to be nearer their supply of corncobs.

About 40 people work in the industry in Washington alone.  They help supply the world with the more than fourteen and one-half million corncob pipes a year from a capital investment of perhaps a half million dollars.

It has been estimated that possibly twice as many pipes were manufactured before floods, crop failures, and war shortages cut production.    This figure contrasts with the initial year the Tibbes started in business, for that year they made something like two hundred of the new smokers.

The prices very on these pipes.  At one time a model was made which sold for one cent, and the kids all bought them because they made fine soap bubble blowers.  Five and ten cent sellers have long been popular, but the war has forced the price up to fifteen cents in most places.  All of the companies now have very deluxe shapes and styles which bring the fancy price of 25¢.

BEFORE THE WAR the Missouri Meerschaum Company experimented with a very special design, consisting of a turned cob shank, a varnished bowl, and a hard rubber stem.  This elegant aristocrat was priced at 50¢, and was probably as nice a pipe as the industry had ever made.

In the early days only the largest cobs from the field were selected.  In an attempt to find a really choice cob for a continual supply, some experimentation was conducted, and a hybrid which produces an exceptionally large and firm cob was created.  It is popularly known as "Collier" corn and is now used almost exclusively by the pipe makers in Corncob City. 

In order that they may count on a sufficient number of cobs with which to carry on their business, the manufacturers contract with farmers in the surrounding country to grow this Collier corn especially for them.  The kernels are secondary.

The farmer shells the corn, which also brings him a profit, but his primary interest is the large, form cob which finds a ready market by the pipe houses which have contracted for his entire supply.

Even the plant is large.  The stalk is two inches in diameter and requires 120 days to mature instead of the usual 90.  The corn is fed to livestock or sold to nearby grain mills where it often brings ten cents more than ordinary corn.

The farmer delivers the cobs to the factories and collects something like 90¢ a hundred for them.  Thus, with top revenue from the better kernels and a profit from the cobs as well, the farmer may easily increase his income per acre as much as $15.

Before the cobs can be worked, they have to dry for at least two years.  Cobs smaller than one and three-fourths inches in diameter are not used in making pipes.

WHEN A CORNCOB is mentioned, most Americans think of a farmer's smoke.  Perhaps a farmer was responsible for the discovery, but when it comes to downright smoking, the farmer is in the minority.  Most of the pipes are sold in large cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Cleveland.  

Many of the nation's best known men prefer a corncob.  They like its sweet taste, the way it breaks in rapidly, and its low expense which permits them to discard one as soon as it wears out and then obtain a fresh one.

Douglas MacArthur is probably the best known corncob smoker in the world today.  He is seldom without one, and he is often pictured with the six inch cob and the extra long stem.

Others who favor the Missouri product are Fiorello H. La Guardia of New York City, John J. Pershing, general of the first world war, former Ambassador to Japan, Joseph C. Grew, and a host of others.

The pipe has made friends in foreign countries, too.  The late Marshal Foch first learned of its features from American officers three decades ago, and enjoyed the ten cent models.  Canadians as well as Europeans like the sweet rich taste of the corncob.  But South America has not as yet taken to the Missouri masterpiece in any degree.

During the war pipes were in great demand by service men in far off places.  Besides smoking, they served other uses, such as is noted in a letter received by a G.I. in the South Pacific:

"Please rush more pipes.  I can trade them for a pig or a couple of chickens.  For two I can get a wife."

A CORNCOB PIPE doesn't carry a guarantee.  For a dime or fifteen cents one can't expect everything.  Cobs, like wood, will burn, and although no one has made any survey to determine the life of the average corncob, any guess from two to six weeks, depending of course upon how much it is smoked, will probably be pretty close.

But of course there are exceptions.  Corncob pipes, if smoked slowly and allowed to thoroughly dry out between smokes, can, and do, last for months and even years.  Like any pipe, one should have several and rotate them.

The corncob smoker has many styles to choose from.  You probably never knew it, but the manufacturers publish catalogues of the styles they produce.  One company has a twelve page catalogue which depicts 48 styles and shapes ranging in price from 10¢ for the "ordinary" cob pipe to 50¢ for the "virgin finish" special.

Thumbing through the catalogue one sees such styles as the Teddy No. 1, the No. 300, Columbia, Roxy, Golfer, Champ, Fifth Avenue, Bent, Radio, Meercob, Fuzzy Jim, and the Advertiser.  The last three are rough with no plaster of Paris treatment being given.

Then there is the Old Crow, which has a long, curved rubber stem, and the Grandpa, with a 6 inch cob and a 22 inch double curved stem.  Also there are small grandpas and fancy grandpas.

The usual styles are available, including the familiar bulldog, pot, billard, apple, Dublin, half bent, full bent, and so on.  The extra special jobs contain a turned cob shank, whereas the cheaper styles use either reed or an inexpensive wood, the latter being necessary during the war when the Virginia reeds (from the Dismal Swamp) were not available.  One style features a nickel spigot ferrule and rubber stem.  Most bits are of a plastic material.  One model contains a filter.  The only style which does not seem to be found in the catalogue is one with a meerschaum lining!  Perhaps next year . . .

Most smokers have at one time or another smoked a corncob, so any attempt to describe here the kind of a smoke given by a cob would, even if it were possible, be superfluous.  It gives a good smoke while it lasts, though it won't last forever.  But a smoker in Rockford, Illinois, recently, was a bit disappointed with the service given by his Missouri Meerschaum.  Returning his ten cent cob to the factory he wrote:

"You will see that this pipe you made hasn't held up so good.  It is in pretty bad shape, and I have only been smoking it seven years."

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