cynyr,
I certainly appreciate the kind words. As a history buff and collector, I enjoy collecting antique and vintage cob pipes manufactured by MM as well as their early competitors. The pipes also serve as inspiration to the development of our own line of cob pipes. As a manufacturer we have the utmost respect for MM. After all, if it wasn't for their founder, Henry Tibbe, corn cob pipes may have never made it into the mainstream of smoking pipes and may have never been accepted by the pipe smoking community in general. There's something to be said about a company who started the industry and after 140+ years of doing business, are still at the top of their game. I know a lot of folks want to compare us to MM, but in reality it's sort of an apple and oranges comparison, as we concentrate on more of a niche market producing traditional bamboo stem Indian corn cob pipes from our own heirloom variety whereas MM offers their extensive product line of more contemporary cob pipes made from their own hybrid corn variety. Also, we're more of a small "cottage industry" business and certainly don't produce anywhere near the volume of pipes that MM produces on a daily basis. I obviously can't speak for MM, but like the briar pipe manufacturers, I think there's plenty of room for more than one cob manufacturer, especially if we both offer different product lines.
