The Corn Cob Pipe Phenomenon...Circa 1906

Interesting article from "Down Under" circa 1906 about the American corn cob pipe phenomenon.
THE CORN-COB PIPE
At some undated period in the development of America the farmers began to contrive for themselves useful tobacco-pipes out of the cobs of their corn (i.e. , Indian corn or maize). After some time (writes the “Westminster Gazette”) the corn-cob pipe became an object of manufacture for general use, and thereby obtained a place on the list of redeemed by-products. Its advancement to a further stage is now indicated by the exhibition at a recent convention of the Grain Dealers' Association, of specimens of a new variety of corn, grown for the sake of its cobs. For pipe-making, it seems, a large cob is desirable; whereas, in the growth of corn for food, the smaller the cob the greater, as a rule, is the value of the product. In the new specializing process a cob is obtained three times the diameter of that from which the earliest pipes were made.
The Age (Queanbeyan, NSW: 1904-1907), Friday 16 November 1906, page 3.
National Library of Australia

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/31179813

Eric,
The variety we use for our cob pipes is an heirloom Indian corn variety that thru DNA testing we've been able to trace back to the "Bloody Butcher" variety originating in Virginia in the 1840s. The heirloom variety has been grown on the Eastern Shore of Virginia (Accomack & Northampton Counties) since at least the 1870s. My brother, Bill, came across the variety several years ago when he met an old local farmer who was growing some of the corn in his garden just to keep the variety going. He told my brother that his family had continually grown this heirloom variety for generations dating as far back as the 1870s. Bill was able to purchase some of the seed from him and we began to revive the variety on our farm. The kernels are ground into cornmeal by my brother and his wife using an antique (circa 1930s) Meadows stone mill and sold as Pungo Creek Indian Cornmeal (Pungo Creek Mills) and of course the cobs we save for making our traditional corn cob pipes.
Bob