Besides the normal production of Big Ben pipes, thousands of Tattoo pipes had to be produced. A major marketing campaign was launched to stimulate everyone to buy a pipe. Gubbels developed a pipe and DE the tobacco. Tattoo was a joint project of Gubbels and Douwe Egberts (at that time still in the tobacco). and Tattoo! That's the period where I came into the scene: 1989. Think for example of the Amphora pipe (with the Air Regulation System), Porsche Design, Bentley.
In the industry, Gubbels is known for its many innovative ideas in marketing, engineering, design and innovation. In 1980 Hillen (Hilson) was bought by the Gubbels company. Hilson had a large market share in Belgium and Germany. Big Ben sold well in the Netherlands, America and Japan. Two different companies but with a lot of common interests. Two factories, two histories, two families, two brands. My father (Fons - production) and grandfather Jos (commercial) took over the company.Īt the end of the 70s there were only 2 pipe factories in the Benelux, only 30km apart. and that was the beginning of a booming export business with the crowning glory: the predicate 'royal' in 1972. This company owned the rights of the Big Ben brand. In 1956 Elbert bought an Amsterdam trading company 'De Rijk'. The production was successful and the market was eager. However, Gubbels did not yet have a brand and launched pipes under the brand name EGRO (Elbert Gubbels Roermond).
Elbert, at that time sole owner of the firm, decided to follow Jean Hillen and independently, with 2 machines and 3 French pipemakers in the basement of his home, started the production of tobacco pipes. Also after the war it was difficult to get goods. Goods and materials were hardly available and many stores were closed. With the outbreak of the war the trade stopped. He imported mainly from England, France and Belgium. Until the Second World War everything went well: Elbert was hardworking and successful. They provided him with the Briar wood so that besides the production of the traditional clay pipe he could also supply the "stylish and modern" briar pipes to among others Elbert Gubbels.
He contacted French pipemakers from the region of Saint-Claude. Elbert was barely 20 years old when he and his Chrysler, the third car in Roermond, visited customers in a radius of 12 kilometers around Roermond.īack to Belgium for a moment: In Bree, Jean Knödgen sold his business (late 19th century) to his son-in-law Jan Hillen. In 1924 her 2 children, Antonia and Elbert Gubbels opened a wholesale smoker's supply business. She gave him 2 children and after the death of Johannes Henricus she opened 2 more stores under the name Widow Gubbels-Plum. After her death (1896) Johannes remarried with Anna Maria Plum in 1899. Johannes Gubbels ran the store for a long time together with his wife, Dijmphna Hubertina. The narrowest part of the Netherlands between Belgium and Germany: Limburg! A little further on, 30km west of Roermond is Bree, where Jean Knödgen (a German) started the production of "clay pipes" in 1846. Through the window he looked at the beautiful inner city of Roermond, a city with history and where the Roer flows into the Maas. In the store established in 1872, Johannes Henricus Gubbels sold newspapers, walking sticks, umbrellas, toys and smoking supplies, among other things.
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