Müllenbach & Thewald

Müllenbach & Thewald was founded in 1830 in the town of Höhr (today Höhr-Grenzhausen) in Germany's Westerwald region, stamped its pipes with the M&T mark, and kept production going until 1972. The firm's story is interesting for summing up, under a single roof, the German pipe trade's transition from handcraft to factory, and from clay to wood.

A Workshop in the Town of Clay

Westerwald has been known for centuries for its fine clay and stoneware; the region's kilns supplied a good part of Europe with pottery. In such a place, making clay pipes was a natural specialty, and the firm started out exactly there: alongside its own clay pipes, it traded in Höhr's pottery generally. The partners were brought together by family ties. Jakob Müllenbach (1800–1876) and Wilhelm Thewald (1807–1888) were brothers-in-law, having married Maria Magdalena and Catharina of the Friesehahn family.

Wood and the Lathe

By the middle of the century the firm's range had widened: after 1848 it began making pipes from various woods grown in Germany, and in 1860 briar entered the line-up. This date is notable for showing how early the briar fashion born in France found an echo in Germany. Production methods changed just as quickly; a process that had initially relied entirely on the hand lathe was mechanized after 1864. After the turn of the century — sources give no exact year — a second workshop devoted solely to briar opened in Vallendar. M&T was a respected name in the trade, but it never ranked among the largest of the German pipe industry.