Waughtel (Robert Waughtel)

Waughtel is the name given to the pipes of Robert Waughtel, who worked in Harrisburg, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Waughtel was known first as a tobacconist and, in the last years of his life, as a pipe maker; the number of pipes he produced is small, and today these pieces circulate only among collectors.

Nearly everything known about the brand comes down through his family and those who knew him; the information below has not been cross-checked against independent archival records.

A Craft From a Tobacconist Family

By family accounts, the Waughtels had been in the tobacco trade for several generations. Robert's father, Preston Waughtel, ran cigar shops in York County, Pennsylvania; it was in this environment that Robert learned to hand-roll cigars, and his interest in tobacco lasted a lifetime. In later years he ran pipe shops in Lebanon, Lancaster, and Harrisburg. His own blends stood out at these shops, including ones named "Waughtel's Best" and "Waughtel's Delight." According to a 2009 account from his daughter, some of these blends went on living at the Wingenroth Pipe Shop in Lebanon even after the business changed hands twice more following his own departure.