Old Pipe and Tobacco Catalogs

Old pipe and tobacco catalogs rank among the most detailed printed documents to survive from the tobacco trade. Because a catalog's pages record, one by one, which model was sold under which name, in which material, and with which shape number, no other type of document offers a comparable inventory. The trade catalog emerged in the 18th century and became, in the 19th, the standard way for a manufacturer or wholesaler to reach a distant buyer. This is exactly where its value lies for the collector and researcher: a catalog shows not what an era sold, but what it used.

The American Side: Demuth and Zorn

The earliest known complete product-line catalog comes from Wm. Demuth & Company, founded by William C. Demuth in New York in 1862. The firm's Illustrated Catalogue of Smokers' Articles and Show Figures, dated to around 1875, brings together applewood, briar, clay, and genuine or imitation meerschaum pipes, amber mouthpieces, tobacco pouches, snuff boxes, and the carved figures placed outside tobacconists' shops all in a single listing. Demuth became a subsidiary of S. M. Frank & Company in 1937 and was liquidated in 1972.

The second example comes from Philadelphia: the fifth edition catalog of George Zorn & Co., an importer and manufacturer founded in 1875, is dated to around 1892. Referred to in sources as running 160 pages, the catalog is illustrated throughout in black and white and lists nearly the full range of the era's bowl materials. What sets it apart are the explanatory sections woven in among the sales listings: pages explaining what meerschaum, amber, and French briar actually are give the catalog the character of a handbook as well as a sales tool. One copy is held in the Smithsonian collection; S. Paul Jung Jr. published a facsimile edition in 1989.

The British Side: Salmon & Gluckstein

Samuel Gluckstein arrived in London in 1841 and, according to the record, entered the tobacco trade in 1855. The dates of incorporation differ across sources: the partnership's founding is given as the early 1870s, its registration as a limited company as 11 March 1895. By 1901 Salmon & Gluckstein was considered the world's largest retail tobacconist; branch counts vary between sources, some giving 140, others over 160, while the catalog itself speaks of more than 120 branches. The Illustrated Guide for Smokers, dated January 1899, with its imitation green leather binding, heavy paper, and pages produced in color lithography (chromolithography), is regarded as the most lavish example of its kind. The firm passed to Imperial Tobacco in 1902, and the brand name remained in use until 1955.

Dating Pipes with Catalogs

Because shape numbers, model names, and stamp formats changed from period to period, setting two catalogs from different years side by side is one of the soundest ways to date a pipe in hand. The same comparison also makes visible how a brand's product range narrowed over time. Since catalogs became simpler and shifted toward a more technical style after the 1920s, collector interest concentrates mainly on the older editions.

Catalogs as Ephemera

Short-lived printed matter meant to be discarded after use is gathered under the heading "ephemera"; the name that turned this into a recognized field of study is Maurice Rickards, who founded The Ephemera Society in 1975. What made trade catalogs a serious subject within this field was the 1960 publication of Lawrence B. Romaine's bibliographic inventory, A Guide to American Trade Catalogs, 1744–1900. Because original copies are scarce, access today comes largely through facsimiles and scans: Briar Books Press, founded by Gary Schrier, has reprinted the 1928 fifth edition of Dunhill's About Smoke catalog and Adolph Frankau & Co.'s 1912 BBB Catalogue No. XX. In this respect, catalogs form a reference body of their own alongside pipe books and periodicals.