Cobleskill’s Davis Keeps Pipe Tradition Alive - Nation’s Oldest Pipe Company Based in Schoharie County

A vintage Kaywoodie ad

COBLESKILL — Nathan Davis is keeping a crucial tradition alive in Cobleskill. He is the owner and operator of Kaywoodie, one of the premier pipe brands in the world. 

“It’s surreal for me finding a Kaywoodie in a market to me” and going to own the company just a decade later, he said.

The entire history of Kaywoodie is too long and storied to include in this article, but Davis compiled an enviable amount of history  of the company since its founding in 1851, its naming, and his purchase of the company in May 2024 after working under fourth-generation owner Bill Feuerbach. It’s now centered here in Schoharie County, where Davis lives with his family.

He grew up in Laurens prior to studying and working in Schenectady. During traveling between Schenectady and Oneonta, Cobleskill was a “convenient meeting place” for his family that grew into love for the community. It allowed for a chance to live in the country and near a country town. He has served on the Cobleskill Community Library for several years and in Cobleskill for ten years. He is a member of the Cobleskill Masonic Lodge #394.

He operates his shop right near his house, joined the Masonic Lodge, and “got to know the community that way.”

Davis said that his stewardship represents the “future.” He owns the company that is the oldest extant pipe company in the country, and likely in the world.

“It’s daunting, but it’s a crazy honor, too.”

He said that sometimes owning the company can be overwhelming. Despite extensive training and making pipes on his own could make him feel like he had “impostor syndrome,” especially his first.

Davis was a patent specialist with a significant income prior to purchasing Kaywoodie. He went from “working on what I loved” and having to work on a number of pharmaceutical patents. When the shift went from working for individuals he cared about personally to large corporations, he realized a shift was possible. He noted that some pharma companies ended promising drug programs, which helped to sour him on the field.

“I didn’t sleep well at night and I realized that there were more important things than money and one of them was my own happiness.”

Each year Davis travels the county and on occasion goes internationally for slow smoke competitions and conferences. Growing up in Otsego County, he didn’t see himself growing up being a leader in a significant industry.

He said it has “been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done,” he said.

Owning and operating the company 

He saw a stranger on the internet referring to the “Davis era of Kaywooding” and it was one of the “most confounding and rewarding things in the world.” He meets people who love the brand and is “one of the coolest things around.” He said that the brand would have likely died if he had not rescued it.

“It’s overwhelming.”

Since taking the helm, Davis said that he has been surprised by the “pure administrative side of owning a business,” including operating its finances. However, his skills crafting the pipes is a master’s work.

Being able to work from his home workshop has been “wonderful” and allowed him to be close to his family rather than working for Albany. While this career has been “terrific,” it has been better to make his own hours and cut out the two hour commute.

“It’s really nice that when my daughter needs something,” he is right there.

Since purchasing the company, Davis said that his favorite trip was going to Poland, a “perfect whirlwind of representing an American country in a country my grandmother came from.” He represented the country and led the American team among participants from 52 countries. The President of the Poznan Pipe Club brought him to a soccer match where the hometeam won from a box seat. This was a combination of his love of pipes, his family heritage, and love of soccer.

Davis said that the pipes are popular internationally. As he rebuilt the brand, selling them in different locations, he said that the largest pockets of customers were in the places that he has traveled to and marketed Columbus, Ohio, Chicago, and Las Vegas.

He said that retailers across the country have been marketing the brand, representing it.

Davis said that he hopes to expand Kaywoodie at the Texas Pipe Show, which includes a number of clubs. He crafted their pipe in 2025, which was so well-received that he was invited back in 2027.

“They just had an overwhelming response to it,” he said. He believes there is a potential large market in the South.

For those who prefer other forms of tobacco, pipes may feel like “a little more work upfront,” Davis said. However, he said that having the bowl of the pipe is “more contemplative” and is more sanitary having the tobacco away from the pipe. It is “more introspective” than other forms of smoking tobacco.

Davis is a key member and founder of the Diogenes Pipe Club in Cobleskill. He is co-founder of the club alongside Eugene Falco. The club normally meets the last Saturday of the month at 8pm and usually meets in the Kaywoodie Lounge at 5216 State Route 10. All are welcome.

He and Falco also run the Greywoodie Podcast and the Albany Pipe Show. The Albany Pipe Show is the only such show in the Northeast. Falco and Davis started the show, hosted at the Polish Community Center, set for June 27 11am-7pm this year. 2026 will be the fifth annual show. This allowed the New York Pipe Show, which faded with COVID to remain extant within the Capital District. The show is sponsored by the Scandinavia Tobacco Company from Denmark. It is growing and one of the largest regional shows.

For more information, contact Davis at benchmadetradition@gmail.com or visit https://www.benchmadetradition.com/.

Davis at work in on a Kaywoodie