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TOBACCO BUSINESS
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013
had an immediate positive impact, notes
Morgan. “Things like putting ads in
trade journals like
TB
and updating our
packaging really paid off,” he reports.
“Today, rather than declining, our sales
are actually growing.”
Tapping a Trend
While Morgan credits the company’s
efforts to boost corncob production and
ignite sales through marketing programs
for much of that increase, he has also
witnessed something of a pipe-smoking
trend among young adults. “More and
more young men are picking up the
habit of pipe-smoking again,” he reports.
“I see it in pipe clubs that have shows
in cities like St. Louis, Kansas City and
Richmond. And the people you see
coming into the hobby as collectors,
smokers, or both are often younger guys
in their 20s and 30s.”
Now that the fundamentals are in
The Meerschaum Story
The corncob pipe was born when a local Washingtonian approached Dutch-
American woodworker Henry Tibbe to ask if there was a way to use his
woodworking tools to make a smoking pipe from a corncob. Tibbe applied
himself to the task and managed to do just that. The pipes, which were
relatively inexpensive and provided a cool smoking experience that enabled
smokers to experience the true flavor of the tobacco, were a hit. Soon he
was selling so many corncob pipes out of his woodworking shop that he
quit making anything else. In 1872, that humble shop officially became the
Missouri Meerschaum Company, which, over time, grew to be the biggest
employer in the town.
“Corncob pipes became extremely popular in the late 1800s and early
1900s,” reports Morgan. “In fact, at one time there were five corncob pipe
companies within the county, all offshoots of Missouri Meerschaum, which at
its peak was shipping 25 million pipes a year.”Over time, pipe-smoking began
to taper off and sales began to decline, bottoming out in the early 2000s.
Today, however, Meerschaum is back in growth mode, says Morgan, who
notes that the company is now shipping 700,000 pipes a year. “Last year, we
were running out of corncobs, so I had to turn orders down,” he says, adding
that this year’s crop production is looking strong.“Keeping an adequate supply
of corncobs is our No. 1 challenge going forward.”
