General History
The American Smoking Pipe Co. was formed in 1978 by
Mark Tinsky and Curt Rollar. Both started making pipes for Jack
Weinberger
( JHW Pipes ) while in high school and throughout college.
Determined to blaze their own path, they formed their own company- its
goal
to create unique pipes, lightweight and comfortable, where attention to
detail was the rule not the exception. Exulting in their new freedom,
they
carved out new shapes that were balanced between the radical freehand
era
of the 70's and the board pipe look of other conservative companies.
Hungry
for recognition, they stormed the Eastern and Southern shops looking
for
markets to sell their pipes. Many hidebound retailers refused to try
something
new, preferring to sell, well, what has always sold before. However,
their
pipes did take root in many shops and the business thrived.
They continued expanding their pipe making capabilities, adding
employees
to help finish the pipes. In 1990, over a disagreement over how much to
expand, Curt Rollar left the company. This put a break on expansion and
coupled with a U.S. recession and rising anti-smoking fervor served to
limit
production to supplying existing retailers, thus ending a decade of
growth.
With pipes sales in decline, we turned to pipe repair as a way to
supplement
revenues. Finding that we liked fixing things, American concentrated on
pipe repair. While working hard at repair and manufacture American is
ready
once again to expand its markets through its existing network of shops
serviced
by pipe repair.
With the advent of the Internet, we are exploring marketing pipes
directly
to consumers in markets not covered by retail accounts. Feel free to
e-mail
us at MT@MT.NET
American Smoking Pipe Co.
POBX 13
Wolf Creek,MT 59648
MT@MT.NET