History

 

exterior view, Wally Frank, 44th St. and Madison Ave., New York City, 1951

Wally Frank, Ltd. was one of America's oldest and most respected names in pipes and tobaccos,

beginning in the earlt 1930’s. Wally Frank operated a chain of tobacco stores in New York City

(the flagship store was in Lexington Avenue) and had a vast catalog business for pipes and pipe tobaccos.

Their numerous private-label pipes were made by many makers, including Charatan, Sasieni, Weber,

and many others. Wally Frank, Ltd. also owned the Pioneer brand of meerschaum pipes,

made from both Turkish and African meerschaum. In addition to importing pipes,

he had many pipes made in his own name and also employed pipemakers like P

eter Stokkebye, Svend Bang, and Ed Burak (who later became the owner of Connoisseur).

As a result, each Wally Frank pipe must be individually evaluated on its own merit.

 

interior view, Wally Frank, 44th St. and Madison Ave., New York City, 1951

 

exterior view, Wally Frank, 44th St. and Madison Ave., New York City, 1951

Members of Wally Frank's "The Pipe of the Month Club"

received a new pipe in the mail once a month.

In 1952, Wally Frank was on a buying trip in Italy and "discovered" pipe maker Carlo Scotti.

Frank liked Scotti's pipes, but there was the small problem of Scotti's pipes bearing

the same trademark or logo as one of Wally Frank's pipe lines, the White Bar.

The two men decided on creating a new logo for pipes sold in the U.S.:

a hole drilled in the stem and with a piece of silver foil inserted in the hole and covered with clear Lucite.

Wally Frank (the person) wrote the forward to Georges Herment's 1954 book "The Pipe."