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Add Washington, MO to the places Bailey's has visited in order to learn more about premium tobacco! Our latest trip was to visit Missouri Meerschaum, the only maker of corn cob pipes in the United States! Yes, we sell a large selection of their pipes!
While we got to tour the MM factory and witness the entire corn cob pipe making process, the most interesting part of this trip was the fields. Nope, not premium tobacco fields, corn fields! It turns out that corn cob pipes require an ear of corn that has a much larger cob than normal (check the picture). Missouri Meerschaum worked with nearby universities to develop their own strain of corn! Since MM ships their pipes worldwide, this process could not include any genetic modification (due to EU requirements).
The result, though, is a plant that yields very large cobs and some usable corn. Enough corn to sell some off about once a month! As MM is more interested in the cob than the kernel, harvesting is a bit different! The harvesting and shucking machines used are older - which brings its own maintenance issues. The machine used to separate the kernels is really a walnut peeling machine!
Even though the cobs are larger than usual, they will still only yield one large pipe. This means that there are more cobs available for the smaller pipes than the larger ones. In fact, The stacks of drying cobs we saw (on the factory's third floor), were mostly to be used for smaller pipes. This should explain why the larger pipes sometimes end up out of stock.
Once the cobs are dried (which can take up to two years) the manufacturing process begins. The bowl is drilled out; a stem whole is drilled; bits are made and bent (by hand); the ferrule is applied by hand. Each piece is checked by a human to make sure that all parts will fit together perfectly, with minor imperfections corrected by hand. Quality Control involves a person checking each piece before and after assembly.
Missouri Meerschaum grows corn, makes pipes, and has its own lines of premium tobacco. Their special 155th Anniversary Blend is Rockin Earl. We got to try some and found it quite pleasing - mild with hints of Earl Grey tea. We currently have a few tins of this year's Independence Day on hand - an aromatic English blend with vanilla notes.
Like our other trips, while the process is interesting it is the people that make the trip worthwhile!
We met some wonderful folks! Make sure you put a trip to Washington, MO on your To Do list!
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