Rex Poggenpohl: Compiler of the American Pipe Makers List

Rex Poggenpohl (recorded as J. Rex Poggenpohl) is a name the American pipe community knows as a collector, amateur maker, and show organizer. He is remembered less for the pipes to come out of his own bench than for his compilation cataloguing, one by one, the craftsmen who made pipes in twentieth-century North America. He was part of the founding team of the Chicago pipe show and served for many years among the club's show managers.

The Craftsmen's Directory

Poggenpohl's most lasting work is his effort to gather scattered American craftsman knowledge into a single directory in the late 1980s. The compilation, dated 1995, was published online the following year; its credits list Tom Colwell, Gary Donachy, Tom Dunn, Bill Unger, and Herb Wilczak as contributors. The directory was expanded in 2003 by Rob Hooper with Poggenpohl's approval and recirculated on newsgroups. Pipedia notes that the core of its American brand and manufacturer pages rests on this compilation; it is counted among the first sources anyone researching the history of the American handmade pipe scene should consult.