Capital District Pipe Club

On January 23 members of The Capitol District Pipe Club assembled at an undisclosed yet familiar location off Central Avenue in Colonie.  Thirteen of us including our stalwart leaders Scott and Russ club members Bob, Walter, Rick, Lance, Bill, Jules, Larry, Liz and Chip, as well as Bill’s wife Pam  began our four car caravan to Peekskill. As soon as we left the parking lot the group disintegrated. The tandem of vehicles driven by   Scott and Bob arrived first followed several minutes later by Russ and Company and finally The Mayor and his entourage.

We were greeted very cordially by Bill Feuerbach III, who is the marketing manager for S.M. Frank the company that owns the Kaywoodie, Yellow Bole, Medico brands. Bill found us in the wrong parking lot near the loading dock for the factory. Who knew we should have gone into the parking lot of the building with the sign that says “Hat Factory”. Apparently before Kaywoodie took over the location in 1980 it was a hat factory.

Once we all arrived there was time for chatter, snacks and a view of part of Bill’s collection of vintage Kaywoodie pipes, lighters, displays and paraphernalia. There was some very interesting material. Bill (Feuerbach, not Hyde) took us on a tour of the production facilities.  He explained how they obtain their briar and why for their production pies they have the bowls pre-made in Italy. How the briar is graded/sorted, the processes used to stain, rusticate, sandblast and polish the pipes. A lot of interesting and potentially dangerous equipment in that room none of which was demonstrated for safety reasons. We also were told how the bits are shaped and the tenons fastened. Among the more interesting pieces of equipment were the ones in another area of the factory that turn out about 250,000 medico filters a day. The factory produces approximately 60,000 pipes a year with 8 workers. The vast majority of the pipes being in the 50-dollar range.

While on the tour our resident knife makers Rick and Lance managed to obtain some of the left over briar to use as handles in their knife production.

After the tour Bill provided an overview of Kaywoodie’s history which traces its roots to 1851 (The date may be of by two years but it is the one that is used traditionally) and the establishment of Kaufman Brothers and Bondy who developed the famous cloverleaf logo. KBB was started in New York City and Kaywoodie has been through today a New York Sate based company.

After lunch provided by Bill there was the opportunity for further discussion. Bill indicated that he and one or two of their local pipe club members might pay the CDPC a visit in the early summer. Some of us purchased pipes or pipe stands and we gradually started drifting home.  One group leaving first to take the scenic route home on the Taconic Parkway always best done before dark. The rest remained a bit longer with the intention of visiting a local brewpub.

As always a great time was had by all and we thank Bill Feuerbach for his hospitality. To view the entire gallery of photos taken that day, click here.

Thanks to Bob and Lance for taking the pictures, and to Walt for writing up this account of the day’s events!