{{no inline, date=February 2022 The Missouri Meerschaum Company is a

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

smoking pipe A smoking pipe is used to inhale the smoke of a burning substance; most common is a tobacco pipe, which can also accommodate almost any other substance. Pipes are commonly made from briar, heather, corn, meerschaum, clay, cherry, glass, porcela ...

manufacturer located in

Washington, Missouri Washington is a city on the south banks of the Missouri River, 50 miles west of St. Louis, Missouri, and the largest in Franklin County, Missouri, United States. The estimated population in July 2021 was 14,916, an increase of 7% since the 2010 ...

. It is the world's oldest and largest manufacturer of

corncob pipe A tobacco pipe, often called simply a pipe, is a device specifically made to smoke tobacco. It comprises a chamber (the bowl) for the tobacco from which a thin hollow stem (shank) emerges, ending in a mouthpiece. Pipes can range from very simp ...

s. The company was founded in 1869 when

Dutch-American Dutch Americans ( nl, Nederlandse Amerikanen) are Americans of Dutch descent whose ancestors came from the Netherlands in the recent or distant past. Dutch settlement in the Americas started in 1613 with New Amsterdam, which was exchanged with ...

woodworker Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials ...

Henry Tibbe began producing corncob pipes and selling them in his shop. Tibbes likened the pipes to

meerschaum Sepiolite, also known in English by the German name meerschaum ( , ; ; meaning " sea foam"), is a soft white clay mineral, often used to make tobacco pipes (known as meerschaum pipes). A complex magnesium silicate, a typical chemical formula ...

pipes and thus named them "Missouri Meerschaum." In 1878 Tibbe patented his method of fireproofing the pipes by applying a

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

-like substance to the outside of the cob. In 1883 Tibbe and his son Anton applied for a U.S. Patent to trademark their Missouri Meerschaum pipe. In 1907 H. Tibbe & Son Co. became the Missouri Meerschaum Company. The Missouri Meerschaum Company's factory currently produces 3,500 pipes per day and ships these pipes to every U.S. state and several foreign countries.

External links

Official WebsiteTibbe-Cuthbertson Family, Papers, 1849-1975 (C3711), State Historical Society of MissouriBlog With History, Photos & Information About Missouri Meerschaum Corn Cob Pipes
Pipe makers Companies based in Missouri Franklin County, Missouri