Peter Stokkebye: Pipe, Tobacco, and Cigarette Man

Peter Stokkebye (1931-2003) is one of the Danish blenders whose name is most often mentioned in pipe tobacco and hand-rolling tobacco during the second half of the twentieth century. He grew up as the third-generation representative of a family factory founded in Odense, established a tobacco factory bearing his own name in the 1970s, and brought his blends particularly to the American market. Today his name is associated both with shag-cut tobaccos and with an unusual cigarette venture he entered midway through his career.

Three Generations in Odense

The family's tobacco business began in the city of Odense on Denmark's island of Fyn. According to records, grandfather Erik Peter Stokkebye, born in 1855, learned cigar rolling in Copenhagen and then opened his own shop and workshop in Odense in 1882; cigars were hand-rolled in the back room of the shop. The business soon expanded to include pipe and chewing tobacco as well, and was documented in local archive records under the name "Stokkebyes Tobaksfabrik." It is said that, in the family, a generation was expected to work through every stage of production before taking over the business; in keeping with this standard, Peter's father, Erik Poul Stokkebye, born in 1897, had learned tobacco manufacturing not only in Denmark but also in the Netherlands and Indonesia.

A Blending House of His Own Name

Peter Stokkebye learned blending not only in the family workshop but also by working at companies such as Universal Leaf and L'Orange; he founded his own factory in the 1970s. Denmark, home to established houses such as Mac Baren, is a country that has built its own distinctive school in pipe tobacco production, and Stokkebye's blends became one of the most visible representatives of this school on the other side of the Atlantic. Products bearing his name included not only pipe blends but also very finely cut hand-rolling tobaccos known as shag; Amsterdam Shag is the best known of these. The Danish corporate entity appears under the name Peter Stokkebye International A/S in local archive records from the 1990s and in a 2001 American tobacco industry correspondence. Because of his business in the American market, Stokkebye spent part of his time in California.

"Free": An Attempt at a Tobacco-Free Cigarette

The most controversial chapter of Stokkebye's business career is the "Free" brand, developed by International Brands, Inc., based in Los Gatos, California. The product was designed as a cigarette containing no tobacco or nicotine whatsoever; the copyright notice on the pack bears the date 1979. Documents preserved in tobacco industry archives show that the brand went through laboratory evaluations and market research in 1979, that it appeared in the company's brand portfolio in an October 1980 business plan, and that it was marketed at the time as a "nicotine-free" alternative. In the same documents, Stokkebye is referred to as the company's vice chairman.

The venture did not achieve commercial success. It is said that when the product was introduced at the Retail Tobacco Dealers Association trade show, most of the member retailers refused to carry it. International Brands filed for bankruptcy, and Stokkebye also filed for personal bankruptcy. It is reported that his grandfather's antique pipe collection was sold to an American collector during this period.

Legacy

Stokkebye gathered his life story into a book published in 2002, Stokkebye: The Life & Good Times of a Tobacco Man; according to catalog records, the book was published by Selective American Marketing. The following year, he died at the age of seventy-two; that same year he had also been honored with the Doctor of Pipes title from the Chicagoland Pipe Collectors Club. The family tradition carried on into a fourth generation: his son Erik Michael Stokkebye, born in 1957, took charge of the family's American distribution network, and from 2013 onward the "4th Generation" blend series, whose names reference the family's generational history, emerged.