Wagner: the Brick Church Pipe Shop and Its Own-Name Pipes

Wagner is the name of a pipe shop that operated in the state of New Jersey in the United States, and of the pipes the shop had stamped under its own name. The name behind the brand is Irving Wagner, founder of the Brick Church Pipe Shop in East Orange.

"Brick Church," the name that gave the shop its name, is a neighborhood name in East Orange inherited from a church. In the trade registry, the business's registration dates to 1964; in later years the registration continued under the name Brick Corner Pipe Shop.

Shops and Blends

Reportedly, the business's name did not stay limited to a single address over time; two more locations in Morristown and Ridgewood were known by the same name even though they were not under the same roof. What is reported is that these branches were under separate ownership while sharing a similar shelf layout and product range. The same records also state that nearly thirty house-blended pipe tobaccos were sold across the three addresses, and that the shops were members of the period's American tobacconists' association (TAA); this membership meant the selection was largely drawn from the association's annual catalogue. These details have not been independently confirmed. A 1972 sales catalogue from the shop does survive today, however, and stands as concrete evidence for researchers studying old pipe and tobacco catalogues of what the shelves of the period held.