Buescher's

Buescher's was one of the best-known workshops making corncob pipes in the United States in the middle of the twentieth century. It was based in the town of Washington, in Missouri, the state regarded as the world capital of the corncob pipe. The "World Famous Pipe" stamp it used on its products still makes the brand identifiable on the secondhand market today.

Founding and the Town's Competition

The company was founded by George Buescher, Jr. Records indicate production began informally in 1939, with formal registration completed in 1941. This date coincides with the peak of Washington's corncob pipe industry: workshops opened one after another in and around the town during the first half of the twentieth century. Buescher's competed not only against Missouri Meerschaum, regarded as the industry's founder, but also against workshops such as Hirschl & Bendheim that had begun production far earlier. The newly founded company operated at the disadvantage of entering a market that had been established decades before it.

It is said that George Buescher worked for a time at Missouri Meerschaum and held a position in that company's management, though this has not been confirmed by documentation. Because of this connection, it was long assumed that Buescher's was sold to Missouri Meerschaum in the late 1940s. This scenario, which held true for many of the town's small producers, did not apply to Buescher's, which remained independent.

Production and Product Range

The workshop was built around mass production rather than individually handmade pipes. Its main product was the corncob pipe: dried and aged corn cobs were turned into bowl shapes, coated on the outside with a plaster-like filler, and then fitted with a simple stem. This method allowed for production that was far faster and cheaper than the handwork required by briar pipes. It was precisely this economic equation that made the corncob pipe so widespread in twentieth-century America: the raw material came from surrounding fields, the production steps could be mechanically replicated, and the broad public that could not afford a briar pipe ended up with a smokable pipe all the same. Buescher's was built exactly on top of this demand.

Between the 1940s and the 1960s the workshop also worked with other materials: hardwood pipes made from hickory, maple, and cherry wood joined the product list. The company also added various corncob-based novelty items to its production line, of which salt-and-pepper shaker sets are the best known. By 1976 the founder's son, David Buescher, had taken on the role of vice president and come to run most of the day-to-day operations and distribution.

Closure

By the late 1980s most of the corncob pipe makers in Washington had withdrawn from production; the only major name left standing in the industry was Missouri Meerschaum. Buescher's survived this contraction for a while longer, but closed its doors around 1990-1991. Today the brand lives on only in collectors' cabinets and old catalog pages; examples bearing the "World Famous Pipe" stamp are considered a tangible memento of the crowded era of the American corncob pipe industry.