Jost's

Jost's is the name of a long-lived pipe and tobacco shop in St. Louis, Missouri, and of the pipes sold under that shop's name. The business began as the umbrella stand of a wood turner who had emigrated from Germany, stayed in the same family from founding to closure, and shut down in the 1980s. The bulk of Jost's-stamped pipes were made in London by Comoy's, with a portion carved on the shop's own bench.

From Umbrellas to Pipes

Founder Henry Jacob Jost was born February 7, 1870, in Germany's Hesse region, learned his craft there, emigrated to America in the early 1890s, and was naturalized in 1895. Known by the nickname "Duke," Jost appears in St. Louis city directories as a turner from 1899 on. The shop's founding year is uncertain: a 1939 newspaper article gives 1892, while a family obituary points to 1905; both were written well after the events in question.

Directory records show more reliably how the business evolved. In 1909 Jost is listed solely as an umbrella maker; by 1914 pipes are added to the listing and a second address appears downtown. By 1921 umbrellas had disappeared entirely, leaving only pipes. The product line changed while the bench stayed the same; umbrella handle, cane, and pipe all relied on the same turning craftsmanship, and the shop kept canes on its shelves until the 1970s. The business took the name "H. J. Jost & Son" around 1936; the "son" here is Louis William Jost, born 1901.