|
We are the larget manufacturer of corn cob pipes in the world. Located in Washington, Missouri, we have about 50 employees who produce, pack and ship about 5,000 pipes per day to nearly every state in the U.S. and several foreign countries.
It all began about 1869 when Henry Tibbe, a Dutch immigrant woodworker, produced the first pipe from a corn cob. Legend has it that a local farmer whittled a pipe out of a corn cob and liked it so much that he asked Henry to try turning some on his lathe. The farmer was well pleased with his pipes, so Henry made a few more and put them for sale in his shop. They proved to be such a fast-selling item that soon he was spending more time making pipes than on his woodworking. In 1907 the H. Tibbe & Son Company became the Missouri Meerschaum Company.
Back when the industry began, cobs from an open-pollinated corn served nicely for the pipes. Today's pipes are made from a special white hybrid corn devleoped by the University of Missouri. This variety produces big, thick, tough cobs. The corn is grown on 140 acres owned by the company in the Missouri River bottom. The company employees do the corn picking and haul the corn to the crib area also located in the crib area. The corn is shelled using only old, out of production shellers dating to the 1930's, as the newer cobs break up the cobs. The cobs are then stored in the upper two levels of the factory for a year or two until they are properly dried and cured.
Cob pipe making has not changed much since those first pipes were fashioned. The pipes still take a lot of hand labor, although some operations have been automated by shrewdly adapting machines from other uses.
Production begins with the cobs being dumped into a chute that sends them down to the lowest level of the building. The remaining husks are removed and the cobs are fed into multiple gang saws where they are cut into uniform lengths. The cob pieces tumble onto a conveyor belt of a grader that sorts them by size.
Next tobacco holes are bored into the cobs, then most go to one of the four turning machines to be shaped. It's the turning or shaping process that determines the pipe style. Some larger pieces are turned by hand. The white plaster coating is then smeared on the bowls and they are allowed to dry a day before being sanded smooth.
A boring machine bores the stem hole, then bowls are varnished either by being tumbled in a cement mixer or run through a lacquer spray booth. Then they go to the finishing room where they have a ferrule (metal ring) attached to the wood stem that has been printed to look like cob. The plastic bits (mouthpieces) are then hammered into the ferruled stem. The stems are glued into the bowl, a label is placed on the bottom, and the pipes are packaged for shipment.
There are eighteen different styles of corn cob pipes being produced today. Most styles also have a variety of bowl shapes and come with either a bent or straight stem. Missouri Meerschaum corn cob pipes are popular as sourvenirs, but most are sold for the smoking pleasure that caused their popularity over a century ago.
|
CORN COB PIPE MUSEUM
Open Monday - Friday
8:00 am - 3:00 pm
Tours of the factory
are not offered.
Though we would enjoy your visit, we realize that many of you will never have the opportunity to stop by. So, we have assembled a gallery of photos to give you a look at the items on display in the museum.
Click on the link above for a photo tour, then click on any of the thumbnail pictures to see larger images in a slide show format.
|
