The Doctor of Pipes and Master of Pipes Awards

Doctor of Pipes and Master of Pipes are two honors that the Chicagoland Pipe Collectors Club (CPCC) presents each year at its pipe show. Since no other regular program is known to formally recognize individual contribution in the community, both are treated as de facto lifetime achievement honors. Collector and writer Ben Rapaport, in an essay published on Pipedia in 2022, pointed to the structure's weak point: both titles depend on the survival of a single club.

The Criteria for the Two Titles

Doctor of Pipes was established in 1998. The first two honors went to Frank Burla, the name behind the CPCC and the Chicago show, and to Tom Dunn, known for the years he spent publishing The Pipe Smoker's Ephemeris bulletin. Only two names are chosen each year: one from those working in the industry, one from among collectors. A nominee is expected to have given at least twenty years of service to the community. Nomination and voting are open only to living holders of the Doctor title; in this respect the program functions as a closed peer review.

Master of Pipes was added in 2017 to include a younger generation, with the same two-per-year selection method applying here as well. The criteria are an age cap of forty-five and at least ten years of contribution. The first two honors went to David Shain and Sykes Wilford. According to the club's records, Wilford — Master in 2017 and Doctor in 2020 — is the only name to hold both titles.