Billie W. Taylor II, Ph.D.
Collection

David Whitney offered this unusual pipe on eBay. I was lucky to win it because it is the only example I have to date of the complete original packaging of these American hardwood pipes made by Hirschl & Bendheim. Although the back of the package is shown, it is of little help beyond what was already known - H&B had a marketing agreement for their pipes with Venturi, Inc. However, until this package turned up, the thinking was that Venturi sold only H&B's corn cob pipes. Now we know that Venturi also marketed these hardwood pipes! See my History of the pipe for the Hirschl & Bendheim part of the story.