Adolph Dill senior was the son of a German immigrant, who hoped to make a new life in the New World. Adolph was born on the 8th of January 1792; he was a well-known baker and the proud owner of a beautiful home in Clay Street, which still stands today, serving as a museum.
While today's post is not about tobacco, it is a roundabout story, which leads back to, yet another interesting Adolph of the tobacco industry. You might need to light up a bigger pipe for this post, as the family history is somewhat intricate, and there are a surprising amount of people with the same names.
Adolph Dill senior was the son of a German immigrant, who hoped to make a new life in the New World. Adolph was born on the 8th of January 1792; he was a well-known baker and the proud owner of a beautiful home in Clay Street, which still stands today, serving as a museum.
0 Comments
Today, I visited a tiny little town in Belgium on the border with France, the type of tiny village where you can have your feet in two different countries and not realise it. The tiny village is worth visiting for its brilliant tobacco museum, which is why I visited, and you will receive the bonus of the beautiful windmill and the stunning Church. Because of a short email to the curator, I was given a behind the scenes tour of the museum and came home with a bag of Belgium grown tobacco, and a Belgium made clay pipe. You might want to light up a pipe for this article! There is little information written in English about today's post. Thus, I am grateful to the people over at rebornpipes.com who translated the interesting history of a company started by an Adolph. One fine rainy day in Belgium a friend and I set out in search of a second-hand pipe. In the pipe community, we call it an "estate pipe," it just gives it a classier name. While there are some great new pipes (of course at a price), there are some fantastic old pipes, which are no longer in production. Then there are the collectors that pay outrages amounts to get a pipe of a specific brand, or shape. Unfortunately for me, the two pipe companies related to Adolphs are well known, and, therefore, a bit pricey, but having a pipe that was designed by an Adolph would sure make me happy. On that fateful rainy day we did not find a pipe from the company started by an Adolph, however, we found a 'cousin' of an Adolph pipe. Let me explain: Mr. Adolph Frankau set up a shop in London and opened his business under his name in 1847. Within a short time, he imported meerschaum pipes and other tobacco supplies. Adolphs's business did really well, to the point of having to hire a helping hand, by the name of Louis Blumfeld, who at the time was only 14 years old. With the extra help, Adolphs company was making headway and becoming a well-known brand until the death of Adolph Frankau in 1856. Suddenly Adolphs legacy had ended, and his widow wished to sell the company. Thankfully a family friend suggested that young Blumfeld should rather take over the business than to sell the company. The young boy was 18 when he took over the company and was enthusiastic to move the company towards briar made pipes, as opposed to the meerschaums they were previously selling. Louis Blumfeld business model succeeded, soon he was trading internationally not only all over Europe but also in Australia, New Zealand, and India, as well as USA and Canada. This move toward briar pipes inspired the stamp on their pipes that the company is still famous for, Blumenfeld's Best Briar "BBB". Despite the stamp, the company was still operating as Frankau & Co, under Adolph's initial company name. Briar is coming to town Pipes made of briar wood were cheaper than those made of meerschaum, this meant that the demand for briar pipes increased. Blumfeld's company continued producing meerschaum pipes; as well as calabash pipes with a meerschaum insert, the price of importing meerschaum from Turkey and calabashes from South Africa did not make this a cheap operation! Thankfully for the pipe collectors amongst us BBB only used meerschaum in their pipes while other companies were using plaster of Paris, and asbestos in their calabash pipes. Blumenfeld's business was booming until the beginning of World War one. The demand for BBB pipes was so high that the company opened a warehouse at 121 Queen Victoria Street as well as a plant in Homerton, High Street 112 which was producing pipes well into the 1980's. Young Blumfeld's business did fantastically well until the war, post war the company struggled and had to be sold. Frankau & Co was bought out by “Oppenheimer and Co. Ltd”. Frankau & Co was one of many pipe companies that were bought out, along with Comoy’ s of London, Dr. Plumb, and Loewe & Co. All these companies now belonged to, another Adolph, that of Adolphe Oppenheimer. The Oppenheimer family started their business in the 1860's and soon were buying out all the major pipe companies. With all these pipe produces in their pocket, they consolidated in one major company “Cadogan Investments Ltd.” at Cadogan Square, London, in the 1930s. The Oppenheimer company continued to produce pipes with all the original names, such as Comoy, Dr. Plumb and of course BBB. The Logo The iconic BBB logo seems to be the first pipe trademark recorded. The system of trademarks began in 1876 under the “Trade and Marks Act”. This trademark was used for their pipes as well as all their paraphernalia from tobacco pouches, pipe bags, cigarette cases lighters, etc. The BBB logo was initial understood to be Blumfeld’s Best Briars, however after the company was sold it was referred to as Britain’s Best Briars. BBB Production How many pipes were produced in London is a big debate, it seems that the majority of pipes were imported from Saint-Claude, France and stamped with the BBB logo. The company itself produced two pipes either with the stamp BBB Own Make, which later became BBB Best Make. BBB like most other brands produced pipes that were attractive for the time, however, their innovation came with producing pipes with space for a paper filter. This was known as the Mackenzie pipe, with a vulcanite mouthpiece, the pipe was popular well into the 1950's but ended production in the 1960s. Although BBB did not have revolutionary styles of pipes, they delivered a solid product, which earned them a gold medal at the French-British Exposition in London in 1908 as well as at the World Fair in Brussels in 1910 Price of a pipe Back in those days, pipes were sold according to the material of the stem; that might sound ridiculous now, but the production of plastics was not as advanced as today. Stems were made from a variety of materials from ebonite (the same used for saxophone mouthpieces), animal horn, ivory, or amber. Of course, the size of the pipe made it more expensive the bigger it got or if it was part of a special series. Back to that fateful rainy day in the second-hand market. My friend Mathew found an Orlik pipe; this company was also bought out by Adolphe Oppenheimer's company, which is why I say we found a cousin of the Adolph BBB pipe for which I was searching. The salesman was explaining that today some jewelers buy pipes to reuse the amber mouthpieces since amber is worth gold these days. Whereas back in 1910 amber pipes were still affordable at about 2£ 10 shillings. More that 150 years later the legacy of Adolph Frankau lives on through BBB pipes owned by the Oppenheimer company also initially with an Adolphe behind its name. BBB pipes are still among the great brands of high-quality briar wood, which has been well aged and dried and worked on by brilliant craftsmen. Sources: http://rebornpipes.com/2012/08/05/history-of-bbb-pipes/ accessed 22 July 2015 To wrap up this weeks tobacco related Adolfs we will end with the story of a tobacco merchant who ended up being the founder of Germany's first colony. Franz Adolf Eduard Lüderitz was born 16 July 1834 in Bremen; he and his younger brother after completing school worked for their father (also Adolf) who was a tobacco merchant. When Adolf Jr. was 20 years old, he traveled to the land of tobacco in North America, visiting the major tobacco merchants in trade houses. He moved down South to Mexico, to search out new possibilities but quickly ran out of money, and tobacco. At age 25 he attempted to buy a farm and start his own tobacco production, which was a failure. Without hope for further prospects, he returned to Germany to once again work with his father. In 1866, he married to Emilie Louise, with whom he had three children. His financial situation improved possibly because of his wife's funds, and in 1878 when his father died he also received the funds of the tobacco business. African dream With money in the pocket, once again, Adolf attempted to expand his business, in 1881, he built a factory in Lagos, which like many of his previous endeavours proved unsuccessful. He did not give up on his dream of a project in African, he went all out and established the first German colony in South-West Africa. Adolf knew from experience that the Germans wished to move to immigrate to The United States of America and were likely to not succeed there. He offered Germans an alternative to the American dream, a place not under German control, yet a place to still speak German. Lüderitzland At the beginning of 1883 Lüderitz bought land from Captain Joseph Frederiks II, who was a local chief. By the end of the year, Lüderitz owned 148km of property, which he dubbed "Lüderitzland." Upon selling the land, the Frederiks had misunderstood the terms of the contract, which once again suggests we should universalize our measurement systems! The issue was the difference between a geographical mile (7.4 km) and the English mile (1.6km). Lüderitz effectively stole the land from under Chief Fredericks along with the area populated by an entire tribe. Chief Fredericks attempted to file a complaint with the official German Government, but the messenger died on his return to Germany. This underhanded dealing of Lüderitz led to his nickname "Lügenfritz" (lying fritz). A year after Lüderitz established his colony, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck considered supporting this project since the Brits had acquired Walvis Bay and other land on the border to Lüderitzland. When the British attempted to take control of this area, the German government established "Schutzgebiete" (protected areas.) On the 7th of August 1884, A German flag was hoisted in Lüderitzland to declare the German "Schutzgebiet" i.e., a colony of South-West Africa. With the support of the government, Lüderitz continued expanding the area buying out any land he could acquire, eventually amassing 580,000 square kilometres. With the mining operations in Kimberley and Johannesburg, Lüderitz had hoped for there to be diamonds and gold in his beloved Lüderitzland. He spent a fortune on consulting with mining engineers to search for opportunities, only to discover there were no diamonds nor gold hiding beneath the vast desert he had bought. In typical Lüderitz fashion, he went bankrupt and had to sell his land to the German government. Lüderitzland took on a more appropriate name, Namibia, which means "land where there is nothing". We will remember Once again without any money Lüderitz looked for a new venture, this time one that cost him his life. Not sure of what his next project would be, he set off on a boat down the Orange River, the last time anyone heard from him was 21 October 1886, his Boat was never found. Nonetheless we will remember the enthusiasm with which he took on all his projects, never afraid to fail again, his entrepreneurial spirit founded a new country. Although the country was eventually renamed, a small coastal town was named Lüderitz in remembrance of the initiation taken to form the first German colony. A plaque commemorates Adolf Lüderitz on Shark near Lüderitz town. Another memory of Lüderitz exists in the capital Windhoek with the Lüderitzstrasse (Lüderitzstreet), as well as some streets in German cities, commemorate Adolf Lüderitz. Sources:
http://www.britannica.com/place/German-South-West-Africa http://www.orusovo.com/guidebook/content12.htm accessed 24 July 2015 http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd11857504X.html (in German) accessed 24 July 2015 http://www.afrika-online.com/namibia/geschichte/kolonialzeitbis1918/franzadolfeduardluederitz.html (in German) accessed 24 July 2015 While we are on the topić of tobacco, it was because of the work of a German chemist that we understand today the difference between a disease and a virus. That chemist's name was Adolf Eduard Mayer, one convenient thing about studying Adolphs is that you do not need to remember their names only their surnames. In this case, you might need to remember their second name since there are a number of Adolph Meyers. In time, you will read their biographies too, but without any further ado I present you to; Adolf Eduard Mayer was born in 1843, in Oldenburg, Germany on the 9th of August 1843, and lived to 99 years old, dying on Christmas day 1942. His grandfather on his mother side was the famous chemist Leopold Gmelin, who worked on the chemical compound red prussiate a chemical used in producing photographs. Young Adolf had big shoes to full! When Adolf was 17, he moved to Karlsruhe, to study mathematics and like his grandfather chemistry. Two years later he studied at the University of Heidelberg, by age twenty-three Adolf had his Ph.D. in chemistry. One Ph.D. was not enough though; he also obtained his Ph.D. in physics and mathematics all with summa cum laude. However, this was not what brought him his fame, in 1879 Mayer was working as the director of an Agricultural Experiment Station in the Netherlands. The Dutch farmers of Wageningen were complaining about problems with their tobacco plants and asked Mayer to inspect them. For years, Mayer studied, the plants trying to understand why they were not flourishing like the other plants. In 1886, he learned that he had to 'publish or perish' thus he presented a paper describing in great detail what he termed "mosaic disease of tobacco". Adolf made a mistake, for he was not dealing with a disease but rather with a virus. All the same this misunderstanding led to a remarkable find, on par with the radical changes brought by Hippocrates and Louis Pasteur. Hippocrates stated that a disease of the human body is caused by physical agents and not by demons and spirits. This meant that doctors began to seek out physical causes for diseases as opposed to evil spirits. This lead to the medical system of humors, as mentioned in the song of 1605, by Tobias Hume, "Love still dries uppe the wanton humor, so doth Tobacco." Louis Pasteur challenged this system of humors when he introduced a theory of germs that cause infectious diseases, which too changed our approach to curing our illnesses. Adolf at first thought that he was dealing with a disease, at this stage he knew it was not an evil spirit causing harm to the tobacco. Adolf experimented with the plants and noticed that if he sprayed the sap of one sick plant onto a healthy the healthy plant displayed the same symptoms of the ill tobacco plant. Adolf assumed that the disease spread through bacteria and toxins, he looked under a microscope hoping to find signs of bacteria in the sap, but he did not see any. This was because he was not dealing with a disease but a virus that was later named the "Tobacco Mosaic Virus" which was too small to detect under a standard microscope. Although Adolf did not see any bacteria in the tobacco sap, he instinctively knew something inside the sap was causing the problem. He ran the tobacco fluid through multiple filters until it ran clear, at this stage Adolf believed that he had filtered out anything that could have been causing the problem. Dmitry Ivanovsky in 1892 and Martinus Beijerinck in 1898 ran this experiment again with better filters and found that Tobacco Mosaic Disease cannot be filtered. This lead Martinus Beijerinck to understand that it was not a disease they were dealing with. Thus, he coined the term "virus". It was because of the experiments with tobacco by Adolf Meyer that lead to the discovery of the virus which in turn opened up a new world of medical treatment. The discovery of the structure of DNA came about through a process of crystallising DNA and then putting it under an X-ray. This process of crystallising viruses started in 1935 when the first virus crystallised was the Tobacco Mosaic Virus. Although Mayer's work with the tobacco mosaic disease was somewhat faulty, it all the same led to the discovery of viruses and in turn the study of the virus. sources:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-x-ray-crystallography.htm http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-virus-and-vs-disease/ http://www.apsnet.org/publications/apsnetfeatures/pages/tmv.aspx https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC241285/ http://www.apsnet.org/publications/apsnetfeatures/Documents/1998/ZaitlinDiscoveryCausalAgentTobaccoMosaicVirus.pdf accessed 18 July |
AuthorMy name is Adolph, and you can imagine how many strange situations I have been in because of it. Often people are shocked, offended or confused when I introduce myself. Some show concern and suggest that I use my second name or use a nickname to avoid this awkwardness. This experience motivated me to start this Blog project to inform the world about all the other Adolphs, depreciated and forgotten who, nethertheless, changed this world to a better place. Archives
January 2024
|