The purposes of the Company then were, among other things, to deal in wood of all kinds, own timber lands, contract to do construction work, deal in real estate,and to buy and sell all kinds of necessary material ... and operate all the necessary equipment and machinery for the purpose of manufacturing clay pipes, crocks, and earthenware.... (Charter Book No. 1, Page 108, Appomattox County, Virginia). The corporation (Charter No. 34565-16) was dissolved by the State Corporation Commission, at the request of the stockholders, on February 21, 1952.
A personal communication, February 23, 1972, from Morton L. Wallerstein who with Ralph L. Dombrower as corporate officers were the last active operators of the pipe factory, states, “Mr. Dombrower and myself, as sole stockholders, started the operation in 1938 and baked the clay pipes up to the time of the enactment of the Minimum Wage Law by Congress. At that time it was apparent that the part-time workers, largely farm girls and boys who worked in the afternoon, would cease to be employed because the pipes could not be marketed under the wages required to be paid.
“However, Mrs. Betty Price and another woman made the hand-made clay pipes at their homes, which pipes Mr. Dombrower bought after 1938 and very cleverly boxed in antique fashion and sold them for some years. However, unfortunately the women who made these pipes died and they were no longer made.
“The factory, itself, did not manufacture pipes beyond the period stated above. The property was sold in 1947 and the corporation was dissolved in 1952.”
Apparently then, the Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Company ceased all activity in 1951, having been in existence slightly more than 70 years.
Some time after the closing, the main factory building was used as a garage. In July of 1969 this frame building, with the name “Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Co., Inc., American Indian Clay Smoking Pipes” still painted above the entrance, stood unoccupied; the crumbling old smokestack and large round kiln of brick construction were still there (Plates4&5). Another building which had served Company purposes had been destroyed.
The machinery to mold smoking pipes and bottles was invented by Calvin J. Merrill of the E. H. Merrill Pottery, Summit County, Ohio, in 1843 (Blair, 1965:3).
The pipe machine was simple: the individual metal molds in the foot powered mechanism could be changed to vary the pipe form. The whole was contained in a simple wooden bench (Plate 6). Miss Wilsie Thornton felt that a man working such a machine could produce thousands of pipes per day. It is unknown how many such machines were used by the factory, nor how many people were employed since ideas of our informants varied; however, the best estimate seems to be 8 to 10 machines, with employees varying from 10 to 40, depending upon the press of work and the rush of orders at any given time.
Bob Davis of Pamplin, in the interview with John W. Walker said, “Old man Taz Harvey made the Powhatan mold. He had a shop and made many molds”.
The pipes were packed in round stoneware crocks or saggers made from fireclay, and the saggers were stacked alternately around the kiln. The saggers were some eight inches high and 16 to 18 inches in diameter (Plate 7). There was an opening in the top of the kiln through which, in glazing, salt was put when the pipes were hot. They were fired some 24 or 48 hours (Miss Thornton’s statement).
Mrs. Maddox said: “As a child I used to go with a colored man who worked with us and also for the factory, and watch him throw salt down a hole in the top of the kiln on the pipes to make a glaze.”
At a high temperature the salt vaporized and combined with the silica in the body of the clay to form a glassy or ‘silicate glaze’. The kiln was fired 32 to 36 hours before maximum temperature was reached; it was cooled the same period to prevent crazing (minute cracking) of the glaze (Blair, 1965:15). This description of glazing refers to stoneware in the mid-nineteenth century potteries near Akron, Ohio. However since the Pamplin kiln was the same sort of “walk-in” kiln, the detail would fit, and it is substantiated by Miss Thornton’s statement of firing time.
From the scarcity of glazed pipes among the many that we examined, we conclude that the majority were finished without glazing.
The stems sold with the factory pipes were made from switch caneArundinara giganteaknown locally as reed and once abundant in the Great Dismal Swamp in southeastern Virginia (R. H. Woodling to Chas. H. Meadows, May 15, 1969). (The stems used with the pipes made by the Home Industry usually came from the same source.)
The reeds were cut in 12 foot lengths by men in boats, allowed to dry for six months, cut in lengths and reamed out. Some were put in a machine and bent (Miss Thornton, Dr. O’Brien).
Cork plugs or washers were used in the base of the pipes to hold the stem in place. Some were still in place in pipes we examined. A plug mill, a high pressure machine, extruded the cork plugs which were cut off by wire (Heite).
(Replacement reed stems for clay, hickory, or corn cob pipes, retailed in the grocery stores in Lexington, Missouri, for 10¢ per dozen about 1916).
A number of people and institutions with varying numbers of Pamplin Factory pipes in their possession have given us an opportunity to examine them. The largest number of specimens were in the hands of the following.
Our attention was first called to these pipes in 1968 at the Craft Club inArrow Rock, Missouri, where some of them appeared for sale as an unusual item. They obviously had been underground, for the bowls and bases were still filled with earth containing numerous rootlets growing through the pipe cavities.
It was learned that the pipes had been supplied by Francis B. Fitzgerald, Suffolk, Virginia; David I. Dautenhahn, Marshall, Missouri, put us in touch with him. As a youngster, Fitzgerald had on various occasions visited his grandfather’s farm, which was near the Pamplin Factory, and had played in the water of a little creek on pipe plant property. In so doing, he discovered that there were numerous clay pipes in a bank which apparently had been placed in the creek to form a dam. (The dam was probably for the purpose of retaining water to mix with the clay). He had hundreds of these pipes. Practically none would seem to have been rejects—how or why they got into the dirt which was used to make the fill is unknown. Through the years Fitzgerald had made a selection of forms representative of this group, all of which he made available to us.
Since that time an owner of the pipe plant property had secured many pipes, later acquired by the Appomattox National Historic Park. They were made available to us by Alford L. Rechtor, Superintendent.
The Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission supplied photographs of some Pamplin pipes, as well as photographs of a pipe mold and pipe maker’s bench (Plate 6) and saggers (Plate 7). We were granted the use of these by Edward F. Heite and Edward A. Chappell of that institution.
John W. Walker of the National Park Service, who had worked in the area and become interested in the pipes made there, provided us with a copy of his field notes and some examples of pipes.
John C. Ewers of the Smithsonian Institution had visited Pamplin. He gave us much information and showed us several pipe forms from the area that are in the collections of that institution.
Rex L. Wilson, National Park Service, loaned us a copy of his manuscript, “Clay Tobacco Pipes from Fort Laramie, Wyoming and Related Sites”, in which he identified some specimens as having come from Pamplin.
The Company’s price list of November 1941 listed “The Powhatan Machine Made”, fitted with cork closures and 10″ reed stems, bowls trade-marked, packed 50 to box, 25¢ retailer. Price $6.00 per box.” (Plate 10).
Five other models were listed, “5 in. reed stems, packed 100 to box, 15¢ retailer. Price $3.00 per box.” Two models were listed similarly, but 10¢ retailers, price $2.50 per box. Two other 10¢ retailers were listed at $2.70 per box, and one model at $2.85 per box but the suggested retail price was still 10¢ each.
One model, their “Ole Virginny Hamburg”, was offered in finest fire-clay, hard-burned, white, simulates meerschaum, also in red. Similar to “Ole Virginny Shaker”. It was a 10¢ retailer, $2.70 per box of 100. (It is of interest that thispipe, listed elsewhere in this same price list, but as “Ole Virginny Shaker of Virginia red clay, a heavier stone pipe”, was priced as a 15¢ retailer and $3.00 per box). (Plate 10).
Jobbers discounts were offered. “10 to 20 boxes, 20%”, and going up by 5% stages to “101 to 500 boxes, 35% discount”. “We make many other styles of Indian Clay and Stone Pipes, ... we can make any style of pipe that can be made of clay. Our own designers and artists are at your service” (Plate 11).
In the last years of Factory operation their sales carried an identification tag, “This Is An ‘Original’ Powhatan Pipe”, and it was being made by the last two women of the Pamplin area who were still making pipes at their homes (Plate 12).
The pipes are illustrated natural size. The largest and the smallest pipe of each form available to us are shown. In many instances this difference in size is not great; however, it does illustrate that minor variations often existed in different molds for the same pipe form. The diameters for the stem openings have not been included since they have proved useful only in consideration of the earlier integral-stem clays, and not for consideration of the “short-base” pipes of the type and time included in this report (Wilson, 1971:2).
Plate 13A.Slightly Acute Angle. Madebothin the factory and in the home. Many examples. All are a deep, dark, glossy red, except 9 pipes which were a light brown. Plain round bowl, octagonal base. It was made in at least 12 slightly varying sizes, there being that many variations between the large and the small pipe illustrated. This was the Pamplin Company’s “Original” Powhatan, and it was no doubt one of the Company’s leaders in production and sales. The word “ORIGINAL” is impressed in the right side of each base, with the exception of one single pipe, and the lettering appears in at least three different sizes, there being no correlation between the letter size and pipe size. This is a sturdily made pipe.
The Company emphasized in its publicity that the Indians had originally demonstrated to the early settlers the method of making the Powhatan and so had enabled them to make this exact form, thereby inferring that this model should have been of particular interest and worth. No doubt at some time and place in our history a happening of this nature may have occurred. However, the Powhatan is a usual form which has been found in aboriginal sites, with some modifications and of varying materials, over a wide area.
Many of these pipes appeared, both from the factory site and among those made by local women and retrieved from the basement of the Thornton General Store. Mrs. Betty Price said that this form was a standard product of the local Home Industry pipe makers before the factory ever came to Pamplin and one of the earliest made in the area. All of the pipes available to us carried the designation “Original” except one.
The making of clay pipes was an old and well established business at Pamplin; whether the impressing of the word ORIGINAL on the base of this pipe was an innovation of the Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Company, or whether this had been long done by the Home Industry is unknown.
Plate 13B.Slightly Acute Angle. Home. 2 examples. Dark red. Plain round bowl, octagonal base. Quite similar to “A” except both bowl and base are shorter, and diameter of bowl proportionally larger. “ORIGINAL” is impressed on right side of base. A very sturdy pipe.
Plate 13C.Slightly Acute Angle. Home. 11 examples. Glossy dark red. Round bowl, octagonal base. Upper part of bowl plain, lower front portion decorated with a series of raised dots. The dotted area is divided into two triangles, as well as separated from the undecorated area by raised and rounded bands. The mold marks in the undecorated area have been almost entirely smoothed. It would seem that all pipes of this form came from the same mold, in contrast to the fact that at least most other Pamplin pipe forms seem to have come from a number of different molds.
The two pipe forms “C” and “B” are quite similar, except that “C” has decoration as well as a slightly longer base, and is not marked “Original” Both are sturdily built, with thicker than average bowl walls, and both were retrieved from the Thornton Store site; no examples were found at the factory site. They are probably the product of the same individual woman working at her home.
Plate 14D.Slightly Acute Angle. Home. 4 examples. This is a black pipe. The deep, solid color was probably intentionally achieved by allowing portions of the burning wood of the kiln to fall into the iron kettles which were used as saggers for the firing of pipes in the Home Industry. The bowl and base are round, with diagonal cross-hatched decoration on bowl, separated from the same decoration on remainder of base by a narrow rounded band. Flat band at both top of bowl and end of base. The right and left halves of the pipe are separated from each other, front and back, by a broad smooth ridge covering the mold mark.
Plate 14E.Slightly Acute Angle. Home. Many examples. Bright red. Bowl and base decoration similar to “D”, but this form is somewhat smaller than “D”. Double band at both top of bowl and end of base, the outside band broad and flat, inside band narrow and rounded. Only slight variations in size.
Plate 14F.Right Angle. Both. Many examples. Dull red. The Company called this their “Akron Hamburg”. The diagonally cross-hatched bowl decorationis separated from the diagonal line base decoration by a rounded band. Double band at both top of bowl and end of base, the outside band broad and flat, the inside band narrow and rounded. The right and left halves of the pipe are divided from each other, front and back, by a broad smooth ridge covering the mold mark. Only slight variations in size.
Plate 15G.Right Angle. Factory. Many examples. Dull red. Diagonal line decoration on bowl runs at right angles to that on base. Double band at top of bowl and stem end of base, outside band flat, inside band narrower and rounded. The right and left halves of the pipe are divided from each other, front and back, by a broad smooth ridge which covers the mold mark. Two slightly different sizes.
Plate 15H.Acute Angle. Home. 3 examples. Dull, dark red. Spiral decoration on bowl, plain hexagonal base. Double band at top of bowl, upper flat, lower rounded. Large rounded band at end of base.
Plate 15I.Right Angle. Factory. Many examples. Dull, dark red; a few are light brown. The Company called this model their “Ole Virginny Shaker”. Grooves of decoration run vertically on bowl and curve toward the bottom to stop at a rounded band, then continue horizontally to stem end of base. Double band at top of bowl, upper flat, lower rounded. Double band at stem end of base, inside band rounded; the outside band may be either rounded or flat; if flat, the end of base is noticeably swelled. Five slightly varying sizes.
Plate 16J.Sharply acute Angle. Factory. Many examples. Dark red. Broad grooves of decoration run from top of bowl and curve toward bottom to continue to stem end of base, or curve back around bowl. Double band at top of bowl, upper flat, lower rounded. Prominent rounded swell at stem end of base. At least 4 different sizes.
Plate 16K.Acute Angle. Both. Many examples. Dull red to dark brown. Quite similar to “J” in form and decoration except that lines of decoration are more narrow and the bowl does not set at such an acute angle to base. Only slight variations in size.
Plate 16L.Obtuse Angle. Factory. Many examples. Dark red to brown. Round undecorated bowl and round tapering base. These pipes are somewhat similar to early stemmed clay imports except that the base is cut off rather short, to form a flat vertical face, instead of terminating in a stem which was an integral part of the bowl and base. The opening in the end of the base is quite small and does not have the usual taper. All of the pipes of this form are nearly identical in size.
Plate 17M.Acute Angle. Both Home and Factory products, 37 examples. Bright, light red. Plain round bowl, hexagonal base expanding to a bell-shaped swell at stem end of base. The flat bottom extends around and under the bowl. “ORIGINAL” is impressed in the right side of base of some examples and “FLORENCE” in others, while some have no wording. The factory examples that we saw were marked either “ORIGINAL” or “FLORENCE”, as were someof those of home manufacture; however, 16 pipes of home manufacture had no wording. At least three sizes are represented.
Plate 17N.Acute Angle. Factory. One Example. Dull, dark red. Similar to “M” except heavy rounded band of beading around near top of bowl, no wording. Hexagonal base expands to a bell-shaped swell at stem end. Mold marks are more distinct.
Plate 17O.Acute Angle. Factory. One example. Dull, dark red. Plain octagonal bowl, with planes continuing along base to large rounded swell at stem end. From deep in the dam at factory site.
Plate 17P.Obtuse Angle. Both Home and Factory. Many examples. Dull, dark red or brown. Octagonal bowl and base. No decoration. Base expands slightly towards stem end. Relatively small pipe, three slightly varying sizes.
Plate 18Q.Obtuse Angle. Both Home and Factory. Many examples. Glossy, light red to deep red. Plain round bowl and base: the base terminates in rounded and swelled end. “Hayiti” impressed on right side of base. At least three sizes of lettering. A few of these pipes are right angled. A similar pipe, except that it had one small rounded band of beading near the top of bowl, the Company called theirs “Powow Smooth Shaker”.
Plate 18R.Very Acute Angle. Home. 10 examples. Dark, glossy red. “Genuine” is impressed on the right side of base, except one example which had no lettering. Plain round bowl and base, terminating in rounded and swelled base end. All apparently from same mold except one which was not marked “Genuine”.
Plate 18S.Acute Angle. Both Home and Factory. Many examples. Glossy, dark red. Plain hexagonal bowl which expands towards the bottom. Plain, slim round base tapering towards stem end. These pipes usually carry a high glossy finish. Two slightly different sizes.
Plate 19T.Slightly Acute Angle. Home. Fourteen examples. Uniform light tan color. Undecorated round bowl and base. Bowl tapers uniformly from top to bottom and base expands uniformly to stem end. Two slightly varying sizes. No mold marks, but some evidence of smoothing.
Plate 19U.Right Angle. Home. Two examples. Uniform, light pinkish tan color. Quite similar to “T” except bowl diameter is slightly larger and does not have the extreme taper, but rounds towards the base. Two slightly varying sizes. Probably made of the same clay by the same person who made “T”. No evidence of mold marks, but some evidence of smoothing.
Plate 19V.Acute Angle. Factory. One example. Dull red. Round bowl and base. Two bands of rounded beading encircle mid-portion of bowl, base expands towards stem end. “117” in raised figures appears on the left side of the base near stem end.
Plate 19W.Right Angle (A Surface find). One example. Dull red. Except for its angle, this pipe is quite similar to “V” with its two bands of rounded beading encircling the bowl.
Plate 20X.Slightly Acute Angle. Factory. One example. Salmon pink color. Ten-sided bowl and base. A rounded band of beading is near the top of bowl, the base end is simply cut off flat.
Plate 20Y.Acute Angle. Both Home and Factory. Two examples. The bowl is decorated by narrow upright grooves and ridges which extend from the base up to and lightly across a rounded band which encircles the bowl near its top. The hexagonal base flares somewhat toward the stem end. This the Company called “Wigwam Shaker”.
Plate 20Z.Acute Angle. Factory. Four examples. Color ranges from pale red to light orange, though two are very dark, probably from having lain long in the stream bed. The round bowl is encircled by a band of rounded beading near the top. Below this, on each side of the bowl, appears “CATLINS”. The base is hexagonal and its planes merge into the lower portions of the round bowl. The top plane of the base seems to be divided into two narrower planes which give the base a seven-sided appearance; this however is probably due to lack of trimming of the mold mark. The base terminates in a large rounded stem end. This was probably a specialty pipe, and apparently all the pipes of this form had these characteristics.
Plate 20AA.Acute Angle. Factory. Four examples. Color ranges from pale red to light orange to medium red. The 14 upright panels which constitute the bowl, with its two encircling rounded bands near the top, give the effect of a wooden bucket whose staves are held by hoops. The raised number “103” appears on the flat bottom. In one example a metal ferrule, apparently of brass, is still in place around the stem end of base. Other examples of this pipe no longer retain the ferrule; however, the discolored pattern of the ferrule was present to show that each had originally had one in place. All pipes of this form seem identical and evidently came from the same mold.
Plate 21AB.Right Angle. Factory. One example. Dark Red. Round undecorated bowl and base. Stem end of base has an inside taper to hold a small reed stem.
Plate 21AC.Slight Obtuse Angle. Home. One example. Glossy, dark red. Similar to “AB” except the angle of bowl and “ORIGINAL” is impressed on the right side of the longer base.
Plate 21AD.Obtuse Angle. Factory. One example. The plain bowl and base have a uniform high glossy red finish. “POWHATAN” is impressed on the right side of base. The stem end of base has been broken off, and it is possible that this base terminated in a clay stem which was an integral part of the pipe. In that event it would have followed the pattern of some of the old white clay imports. There are no spurs or projections of any nature at the bottom of the bowl.
Plate 21AE.Probably Obtuse Angle. Factory. One example. Glossy medium red. This is a form similar to some early white clay imports. While the onlyexample available to us was badly broken, it seems to have its own integral clay stem, and it definitely has one spur below the bowl.
Roll of Fired Clay.A portion of a roll of fired clay was found in the fill on the Factory site. It evidently had been prepared for molding, and some clay had been broken from each end. It could have been a test firing of the clay, or the piece may have unintentionally gotten into the kiln.
Plate 22AF.Right Angle. Factory. Two examples. Colors are light orange and red. A flat band encircles the top of the bowl, and below this is a more narrow rounded band, whose lower edge is here and there lightly cut in line with the grooves below. The vertical grooves of decoration on the bowl continue, or merge with a lesser number of horizontal grooves and ridges which run to the stem end of the base. These grooves, in part at least, extend over the large rounded swell at stem end of base. These two pipes illustrate the minor differences that may exist in different molds used in making the same basic pipe form.
This and the following three pipe forms seem to represent a transition from the earlier, rather heavy, sturdy and relatively thick side-walled clay pipes, to a pipe lighter in weight, which is more representative of the form in use by what might be considered the last generation of regular clay pipe smokers.
Plate 22AG.Acute Angle. Factory. One example. Color is gray. This piece was among the eight pipe sherds, still sufficiently intact to give an indication of the original pipe form from which they had come, that were picked up by us on the driveway of the Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Company in July 1969. Some were heavily glazed and of a different character from the pipes dealt with up to this point, and seem to have come from pipes resulting from the change in style mentioned under “AF”.
This pipe fragment has some characteristics similar to “AF”. The bowl decoration towards the top is unknown, but vertical lines of decoration occupy the bowl, and only those on the front of the bowl continue along the base; those on the sides terminate upon joining the front lines. The stem end of the base is also somewhat different, being decorated by a rounded and finally a flat band. This sherd carries a moderately heavy glaze and it is the first pipe form presented which actually shows evidence of a salt glaze.
Plate 22AH.Right Angle. Factory. One example. Color pale yellow to light brown. Round bowl and base, double rounded band of beading around top of bowl and stem end of base. Bowl decorated with raised dots in cross-hatched pattern. Spiral decoration on base. Prominent mold marks, thin sidewalls. Heavily glazed.
Plate 22AI.Right Angle. Factory. Two examples. Color ranges from deep red through light orange to yellow. This lighter pipe with thin sidewalls has two narrow rounded bands encircling the top of bowl, which is otherwise plain. A large rounded band is at stem end of base. These pipes are well glazed.
Plate 23AJ.Right Angle. Factory. One example. Dark Red. This is a version of the Company’s novelty “Tomahawk Pipe”, decorated to order for specialoccasions. The pipe illustrated was made specifically for sale at the Chicago World’s Fair and has “Century of Progress, Chicago” in raised letters on the left side. “1833—(likeness of an Indian)—1933” is on the right side of bowl.
Plate 23AK.Right Angle. Factory. One example. Color light tan. This was the Company’s standard novelty pipe, recommended for all occasions, and it was shaped like a tomahawk. A likeness of Washington appears on the right side of the bowl, with the name “Washington” in raised letters above. On the left side is the likeness of an Indian wearing a Plains headdress, and above it in raised letters is the name “Powhatan”. A wide flat band encircles the stem end of base.
The Pamplin Company’s literature stated,Tomahawk Pipe-Novelty, molded from hand engraved brass die, of finest clay, hard-burned and glazed. An attractive item for carnivals, conventions, fairs, etc. Packed 200 to a box with 5″ reed stems. Price $13.50 per box.This pipe was a regular sales item for festive occasions (Plate 11).
Plate 23AL.Right Angle. (A surface find). One example. Deep red. Most Pamplin pipes of home manufacture were made by women; however, Miss Wilsie Thornton and Dr. C. G. O’Brien said that a Mr. Rodgers, about 1938, made pipe molds and pipes of unusual form as a hobby. Miss Thornton mentioned two forms that he made—an Indian Head, and a Woman’s Leg, the calf being the bowl and the foot being the base, with the toes at the stem end of base. This pipe is credited locally as being of his manufacture.
Plate 23AM.Right Angle. Home. Two examples. Deep glossy red. The decoration on the lower portion of the round and expanding bowl reminds one somewhat of a peach seed; this decoration is separated from the upper part of the plain upper bowl by a rounded band. The base is undecorated, and terminates in a smooth enlarged stem end. The second pipe of this form was a surface find.
If the Factory had Nos. 103 and 117 how many more numbers may they have had?
Impressed identifications, usually put on the base of the pipe with a stamp after the pipe came from the mold, appear on pipes from both the Homes and from the Factory. It is of interest that apparently identifications in raised lettering came only from the Factory.
In the beginning of this effort we had assumed that the pipes made by the Factory would be quite different, in both form and decoration, from those made in the homes. We have found that this assumption is not valid.
There is a great deal of overlapping, probably due to the Factory, after its arrival in Pamplin, taking over and producing a number of the shapes and designs that had long been in use in the Home Industry. It is also possible that the Home Industry appropriated some of the Factory pipe forms.
In addition, all local evidence agrees that the Thornton Store did not purchasepipes from the Factory; they were getting plenty themselves, taken in trade for their merchandise, and which they would have to dispose of on the wholesale market in competition with the Factory.
There is local evidence that the Factory did, at times, buy locally made pipes in order to fill large orders, as well as when their machinery was not in operation. It is quite unlikely however, after buying and paying for them, that these pipes would be found in the landfill on the Factory grounds, the fill from which the “factory” pipes considered in this study came.
Of the total of 39 pipe forms located by us, 10 were from Home Industry, 19 from the Factory, (eight appeared in both), and two were either surface finds or the knowledge of their exact place of manufacture lost, as they had long been in the hands of their local Pamplin area owners.
The Akron Company had made pipes before they established the pipe plant at Pamplin, and the names of some of their pipes in the Pamplin literature would infer that at least one form, the “Akron Hamburg”, had been carried from Akron to Pamplin, which then is described as “from Virginia clay, attractive red color”.
On the other hand, Mrs. Betty Price has been quoted as saying that the pipe form known as “Hamburg” was one of the first made by the women of the area.
For a time in later years, at least by 1941, the Pamplin Factory made a pipe similar in form and decoration to their “Akron Hamburg”, but of fire clay, and called it “Akron Shaker”.
Since there is so much overlapping of form and decoration between the pipes made in the homes and those made by the Company, one wonders if there might not have been even more overlapping had the sample available to us at this late date been greater than the 4,451 pipes examined.
It is our conclusion that when the Akron Company came to Pamplin they started to produce pipes of a number of forms that had long been made by the Home Industry of the Pamplin area. They may also have brought one or more Akron pipe forms and decorations with them, to be manufactured at Pamplin. In turn the Pamplin Home Industry possibly adopted some forms now being produced by the Company. (Some of these forms may also have been in production in other areas, but probably of different clay).
The foremost factor distinguishing Pamplin area pipes, from either manufacturing source, was the “Virginia clay, of attractive red color”.
So far as we have been able to determine, no particular friction ever developed between the Factory and the industry being carried on at the homes; each had its own wholesale outlets.
To the best of our knowledge, the Home Industry started about 1740 and definitely closed in 1953.
The Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Company was established about 1878, and it definitely closed in 1951.