At the Missouri Meerschaum factory in Washington Missouri they have exhibits dating back over 150 years.
Any history lover, especially a pipe smoking history lover, needs to put a visit to Washington on their bucket list.
One of the exhibits in the old brick factory there still producing the only good cob pipe in the world today, is a fascinating series of letters between the owner of MM and a Missouri Senator who managed to get bamboo imported from communist China on the “free list”.
This was after China became Communist and before Nixon visited China.
The bamboo they used only grew in one spot in China along a certain river. It was referred to as Whangee bamboo.
Definition, Synonyms, Translations of whangee by The Free Dictionary
www.thefreedictionary.com
The only domestic substitute for it was some inferior bamboo not worth harvesting in Louisiana.
Since there was no domestic source, the good Senator won MM a duty free pass to trade with China.
I’ve often wondered if that’s still on the free list.
I bought a pipe at MM with a genuine Chinese bamboo shank about 1999 or thereabouts. It was old stock, then.