We asked Dr. O’Brien for an account of the method of making pipes in the
homes. The following is his contribution, in a letter dated March 11,
1971.
“I talked to Jack Price, age 86, he had worked in the plant for years.
His mother, Mrs. Betty Price, and grandmother made pipes at home in
Pamplin.
“The clay was made up and put into molds, when the pipe was removed from
the mold the shaper was used to smooth mold marks, if the pipe was to be
identified with ‘Original’, ‘Hayiti’, or some other marking this was
impressed on the base with a stamp at this time. The pipe was then
sun-dried on a board in summer, or in the stove oven in winter. Then
after they had ‘set-up’ the pipes were put into an iron pot, the pots
were put into an oven in the back yard and dry chestnut wood was placed
around the pots and this was then set on fire. They did not have a
thermometer so he did not know the temperature, but when the wood had
burned completely the pipes were brought out to cool.
“If a piece of wood fell into the burning pot and started to smoke it
was removed at once to keep from blackening or staining the pipes.
“After the pipes cooled they were brought into the house and Mr. Price
said that when the pipes were poured out of the pot in which they were
baked, to the floor, they would ring or chime when they hit against each
other.
“The pipes were then waxed with bee’s wax and mutton tallow and then
polished with a woolen cloth, and the children helped.”
In all of this, Bob Davis of Pamplin, age 91, in talking to John W.
Walker in 1962, had concurred. He said, “The pipes were molded, trimmed,
put on a board and dried in the sun, baked in iron pots, waxed, and
rubbed. The pipes were made all through the country, the local stores
bought and shipped them, and the Factory would buy these ‘country
pipes’.” Here was more direct evidence that the Factory, on occasion at
least, bought and shipped pipes made by the Home Industry (Walker,
personal communication).
There were, however, two men who made pipes.
Dr. O’Brien’s father Thomas O’Brien, was born in 1843. When he came back
after the War, about 1865, he made his own mold of white-oak with lead
lining and made pipes for his own use.
According to Miss Wilsie Thornton, a Mr. Rodgers was making molds and
pipes until about 1938 as a hobby. One of them was in the form of an
Indian head (Plate 23 AL). The “peach seed” pipe (Plate 23 AM) is also
thought to be one of his manufacture.