J.M. Boswell

J.M. Boswell is an American pipe workshop founded in 1980 in the town of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, now run by its second generation. It is known for staying tied to a single town since its founding, never scaling production up to factory size, and keeping the bench's operation within the same family.

The Carlisle Apprenticeship

Boswell's acquaintance with the craft began under Richard C. Johnson, who made pipes in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Johnson's own history reached back to 1939, to the Weber Pipe factory in Jersey City; after leaving the factory he had settled in Pennsylvania and opened his own shop in Carlisle. Records show Boswell worked at this bench from 1975 to early 1980, and over that span shaped the majority of the pipes that left the shop himself. These pipes carry not Boswell's stamp but "Johnson Handmade," so his output under his own name does not extend before 1980.

He opened his own workshop in Chambersburg in February 1980. There is also a Weber tie on the family side: his wife Gail's father, uncles, and aunt had made pipes at the same Jersey City factory in the late 1930s. In this respect the business rests on a heritage stretching further back than its founding date.