Loading
Loading
Brand Dating Guides
Jobey has no date code. Its stem system, its Danish line and its country stamp give year ranges.
Updated 2026-10-15
Welcome. If your pipe is stamped Jobey, this guide is for you.
Pipedia says it plainly: there are few solid facts about Jobey.
The brand changed owners, sellers and makers many times. No Jobey date code is known.
So a Jobey can rarely be dated to one year. Most windows here are wide, and we say so.
Each rule has a rank: high, medium or low. Read the rank before you trust a window.
1915 to 1941
An old story says Jobey began in England around 1920. Pipedia puts a question mark on that.
A newer find points to Brooklyn, New York.
In 1915 two brothers, Ulysses and Louis Jobey of Brooklyn, got a US patent for an unusual pipe.
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of 6 November 1918 reported that Louis Jobey went bankrupt.
A New York business directory of 1922 lists Ulysses Jobey Jr. as vice president of the Lakewood Pipe Company.
In 1941 a trade paper named the Norwalk Pipe Corporation as maker of Jobey and Shellmoor pipes.
Its president then was Louis Jobey.
Pipedia calls this origin a guess. But it suggests Jobey was always an American brand.
1942 to today
Pipedia lists these firms, each with one year or decade:
George Yale Pipes and Tobacco, New York, in 1942. Norwalk Pipe Co., New York, in 1949.
Arlington Briar Pipes Corp., Brooklyn, year not known. Hollco International, New York, in 1969.
Weber Pipe Co., Jersey City, New Jersey, in the 1970s. Weber owned and made Jobey then.
Tinder Box shops sold Jobey widely in the 1970s and 80s. A Jobey page is in its 1979 catalogue.
In 1987 Jobey moved to Saint-Claude, France. Butz-Choquin made it there, as a name only.
Later the work stopped. Pipedia reports news from 2002: F and K Cigar Co. of St. Louis had brought Jobey back.
Most Jobeys are classic shapes at a low to middle price. Buyers called them well made for the price.
First look at the stem. The Jobey Link is a screw-in tenon system.
Pipedia gives its patent year as 1969 in the text, and 1970 on a photo caption.
A pipe with the Jobey Link was made in 1969 or later.
Next look for the word DANSK. Jobey Dansk pipes are Danish freehands made by Karl Erik Ottendahl.
Then look for the country. A Jobey stamped FRANCE or ST CLAUDE belongs to the Butz-Choquin years.
Line names include Shellmoor, Asti, Fawn Extra, Filtersan, Pinch, Unicorn, Specimen Grain, Air Cooled and Hand Rubbed.
Shellmoor was already named in 1941. We hold no end year for it, or for the other lines.
1970s to 1987
In the 1970s Weber bought freehands from Karl Erik in Denmark and sold them as Jobey Dansk.
Karl Erik stopped all exports to the USA in 1987, because sales were falling.
Three Pipedia pages agree on this: Jobey, Weber and Karl Erik.
So a Jobey Dansk most likely dates from the 1970s to 1987.
No Jobey shape chart is known to us. The numbers below come from restorers' posts, one pipe each.
So every name here rests on one source only, and one number may change between owners.
Seen so far: 015 zulu, 020 squat bulldog, 085 churchwarden, 160 bent author, 200 bulldog, 250 apple.
Also: 440 square shank billiard, 460 square shank panel billiard, 500 bent sitter, E55 bent billiard, E527 hawkbill.
The 470 bent pot seen was a French Asti, so it is from 1987 or later.
The famous advert speaks of 100-year briar and only 1 bowl in 500 passing. Pipedia treats this as marketing.
The England start story has no proof. Do not sell a Jobey as English made from it.
A pipe with no Link stem is not dated by that. Many Jobeys were made without it.
Jobey Dansk is Karl Erik work, but it carries the Jobey name. Do not call it a signed Karl Erik pipe.
The name Jobey alone only says 1915 or later. That window is honest but very wide.
Each row comes from our Jobey cabinet. There is no date code, so most windows are wide.
Jobey Link screw-in tenon stem
Floor from the Link patent. Pipedia says 1969 in the text and 1970 on a caption.
JOBEY DANSK (Karl Erik freehand)
Three Pipedia pages agree. The start is given only as the 1970s, so 1970 is a round number.
FRANCE or ST CLAUDE with Jobey
Butz-Choquin made Jobey from 1987. Who made the 2002 return pipes is not checked.
The name JOBEY
Floor from the 1915 Brooklyn patent. Use only when nothing else is readable.
What We Don't Know Yet
Published deliberately. If you hold the catalogue, hallmarked example, or period document that closes one of these gaps, write to us — corrections are credited. Every open question across the encyclopedia is gathered on the Open Questions page.
Changelog
Sources
Holding a Jobeyyou can't place? Our shelves usually hold a few — documented to this same standard.
Jobey in the Shop