Pipe Brands
Tinder Box
Founded in 1928 in Santa Monica and later expanded across America, the Tinder Box tobacconist chain is known for having pipes stamped with its own name made to order by workshops in various countries.
Tinder Box was one of the first major ventures to bring pipe and tobacco retailing in the United States into a franchise system. The chain's name also covers a house-brand family of pipes made to order at various workshops over the decades; as a result, the "Tinder Box" stamp on the secondhand market points to a sales network rather than a single manufacturer.
The Santa Monica Beginning
The business began when Edward Kolpin Jr. rented the soda counter in his father's pharmacy and started selling pipes and imported tobacco. As demand grew, Kolpin opened his own shop in Santa Monica in 1928. In later years the business settled at an address on Wilshire Boulevard; the building there was constructed in 1951 with a facade in the then-fashionable "old English" style. Two years later, in 1953, the erected neon pole sign became identified with the shop and was remembered as one of the neighborhood's familiar landmarks.
Franchise Network and Separation
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Source: Pipedia, adapted under the CC BY-SA licence.