Frank Burla: Founder of the Chicago Pipe Show

Frank Burla (1943 - October 2021) is an American collector internationally known for antique pipe collecting, and the founder of the Chicago show now counted among the world's largest pipe gatherings. He was born in Chicago Heights, on Chicago's south side. He worked for many years as a special agent for the FBI, retiring in 1994; his real work within the pipe community began after that date.

From a Basement Collection to a Home Show

Burla's interest centered on antique pipes carved from 19th-century meerschaum; what he amassed gradually turned into a small museum in his home's basement. He is said to have later moved this collection to an apartment in Naperville. In 1983, together with his wife Annette, he cleared the furniture from the ground floor of their home and hosted the first Chicagoland Antique Pipe Show there. In the same years, Dennis Di Piazza, who ran the Tinder Box store in Schaumburg, was organizing a separate, briar-focused show; the two events merged in 1988 at the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles.