Pipe Lon

Pipe Lon is the name of a pipe shop that operated in St. Thomas, in the US Virgin Islands, from the early 1960s until 1986, and of the stamp it struck on a portion of the pipes it sold. It takes its name from Lon Schwartz, the New York-born founder who opened the business at a young age.

It is unusual for a retail shop to enter pipe history; Pipe Lon is remembered because the freehand pipe aesthetic then taking shape in Denmark first crossed over to America through this very shop.

A Port Shop

St. Thomas was a cruise-ship stop that drew American travellers with its duty-free shopping. Schwartz turned that traffic toward pipes, and over time built a business that held the island's agency for major European and American brands; his shelves carried English names such as Charatan, Barling, GBD, and Comoy's, alongside Danish brands such as Stanwell. Schwartz later said he had built the world's largest open pipe display in his shop, a run approaching ninety metres; this claim rests solely on his own account and is not backed by an independent measurement.

The shop's own stamp is also a product of this period. Schwartz marked part of the pipes he sold with the inscription "Pipe Lon," regardless of whether they already bore the maker's own stamp. Today, determining the actual maker of a pipe carrying that stamp is often a matter of guesswork based on shape, bore geometry, and stem craftsmanship.