McLary: an American Pipe Bench Founded in Two Periods

McLary is the name of the one-person bench American pipe maker Dave McLary runs under his own name. It is not a factory or a commercial brand but a personal pursuit founded in two separate periods: production that began in the mid-1960s was suspended for decades, only to revive after McLary retired from his primary profession. Pipes of the second period are mostly known by the stamp "McLary of Ingalls," referring to the town of Ingalls, Indiana.

A Training From the Mincer Line

McLary's teacher was Bill Mincer. This name is not incidental to American pipe history: Bill Mincer is the son of Tracy Mincer, who founded the Custom-Bilt brand in the 1930s. After the elder Mincer, the company's Indianapolis facility continued operating, with Claude Stewart running the workshop; the young McLary was among its frequent visitors.

Work is recorded as having started with a divided arrangement: McLary supplied the briar block, while Mincer took on precision stages such as drilling the tobacco chamber and fitting the stem onto the body. This division did not last; McLary soon set up a workshop where he could carry out every operation himself, and he first gave what he made to those close to him. Shops in Indianapolis and Anderson, Indiana, along with a pipe shop in St. Louis, then took his pipes onto their shelves.