Pollner (Carl Pollner & Sohn)

Pollner, in full Carl Pollner & Sohn, is a wood-turning and tobacconist business that has stayed in the hands of the same family in the Westphalian town of Bünde since October 9, 1878. Founded as a small turning shop producing stair treads, table legs, and furniture parts, the business began selling umbrellas, canes, and pipes as well once a small shop opened in 1881; in later generations the emphasis shifted entirely to pipes and tobacco.

Founding and Generations

The workshop's founders were Carl and Elise Pollner. Otto Pollner, born in 1883 and representing the second generation, learned the wood-turning trade in the pipe branch in Münster and completed his training around 1900; the direction of the business became clear in this period. The firm was registered under the name "Carl Pollner & Sohn" in 1920 and that same year moved into its own building housing both the workshop and the sales section together; the second generation's management continued until 1957.

The name at the head of the third generation is Otto Pollner II, who took over management in 1958. According to Pipedia, he ran the business during this period together with his wife Wanda, and later with Christel Pollner; the tobacco side became notably prominent. In 1990 management passed to the fourth generation's Otto-Karl Pollner. The fifth generation is represented by Julian Gronau, who took charge of the business in 2015.

Otto Pollner II and OP-Studio Pipes

The best-known name in the family is Otto Pollner II (1925–2004) of the third generation. He is considered Germany's last certified master pipe turner. Alongside the pipes he finished individually by hand, he published numerous articles in specialist magazines and wrote several books on pipes. Among these are Pfeiferauchen leicht gemacht, which explains pipe smoking to beginners; Tabakpfeifen aus zwei Jahrhunderten, covering the turners of the Westphalia and Lippe region; and the 1997 Die Pfeifenmacher zwischen Rennsteig und Rhön, examining the pipe makers between Rennsteig and Rhön across a three-century span. The last book is regarded as one of the reference texts of regional pipe historiography.

He also developed the workshop's signature product, OP-Studio pipes. These hand-finished briar pipes continued to be known under the brand name even after the maker's death. Records indicate Otto Pollner II was, from 1992, a member of the pipe makers' guild in Saint-Claude (Confrérie des maîtres-pipiers); this tie to the French tradition also points to German wood-turning's place on a European scale.

Today

The business is still active in Bünde today; alongside pipes and tobacco, its range also includes other products such as cigars, wine, and Erzgebirge-region woodwork. The pipe retains its place in the business's emblem, and the OP-Studio name continues. Since Bünde is one of the historic centers of the German tobacco industry, Pollner's story counts as a record not just of a single workshop but of a town's relationship with tobacco.