About ten years ago I came across a pre-war Wally Frank catalog. It was fascinating, charming and very informative, and I wanted to share it with my friends. Pipepages was born. It has functioned, in equal parts, as collector resource, primary source history, and a trip down memory lane. Early on, the content was from my modest collection of ephemeral tobacciana. Quickly, though, a loyal group of correspondents began providing me with additional material. I dare not try to thank you all by name for fear of leaving out even one of you. My reward has been the emails: thank you notes, questions about pipes found in the attic, inquiries from relatives of employees and owners of pipe making companies, former employees of long-closed tobacconists, and fond reminiscences of visits to those same establishments.
Attending to my wonderful life and career has left me less and less time (and certainly no more technical ability) to keep Pipepages fresh and functioning. I’ve been talking for a couple of years now with my friend Chuck Stanion, Editor in Chief of Pipes and Tobaccos Magazine, about P&T assuming stewardship of the site. While we have had an agreement in principle for some time, it was not until Chuck succeeded in getting the entire P&T management team blinding drunk on cheap booze that he was able to secure an additional staffer to take on the project. I am very excited about this change. The site will be much more easily navigated and searched, and it will reach a much larger audience. Submitting material should be much easier as well. Watch this space!