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Article: Corncob pipes _ and the Missouri factory making them _ endure.
- Article from:
- Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL)
- Article date:
- November 29, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Chicago Tribune. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Tim Jones
WASHINGTON, Mo. _ The 19th century brewery is gone, and so is the zither factory that began production at the close of the Civil War.
But in the old brick building near the gently sloping southern bank of the Missouri River, a few dozen men and women cut, bore, shape, glaze and finally piece together thousands of corncob pipes every day, just as their predecessors started doing here 135 years ago.
In an age of declining smoking, trendy cigar aficionados and wood-paneled smoking lounges, the corncob pipe stubbornly endures, and the Missouri Meerschaum Co. _ the first of the dozens of American companies to make the inexpensive ...