Erik Peter Stokkebye: Pipe, Tobacco, and Cigarette Man
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Introduction
In the past I had written about three antique-pipe collectors—William Bragge, J. Trevor Barton, and John F. H. Heide—and Tom Dunn and Richard Dunhill— but I have not shared my experience with the late Peter Stokkebye, a gentle giant of a man whom I met under unusual circumstances. He is one of the renowned names in pipe-tobacco history. His biography, Peter Stokkebye, The Life & Good Times of a Tobacco Man was published in 2002. He passed away in 2003 at the age of 72, the same year that he received the prestigious Doctor of Pipes award from the Chicagoland Pipe Collectors Club.
I don’t remember precisely “when” of our association—probably in the mid-1990s—but I remember “where,” at an annual CPCC convention. The “what” is that I was familiar with the name, because I had written about his grandfather in Collecting Antique Pipes (1979): “In Odense, Erik Stokkebye A/S Cigar and Tobaksfabrik, founded in 1882, owns a first-rate pipe collection, but at the moment, it is cached.” Having shipped the collection from Odense, Peter was exhibiting that collection at the show, so I introduced myself as a collector of antique pipes, an author of a book on them in which I mentioned his grandfather, and that I was a certified personal property appraiser, should he ever need a formal valuation of the collection. I’ll explain the “why” shortly.
Why a story about Peter. It’s to bring to light a short-lived chapter about a financial hiccup in which he experienced grief and stress for having been involved in the manufacture of another smoking product.
Peter Stokkebye
There are some truly wonderful people in the Roll Your Own and Make Your Own industry. This business seems to attract affable, articulate, and dedicated folk who make writing this magazine a labor of love. If one name stands out, a name that everyone is familiar with, a name that without exception brings a look of respect and pleasure every time it is mentioned, this name is Peter Stokkebye (stow-ka-bee with the accent on the first syllable). I have yet to meet anyone with anything but kind words to say about this man. In fact, when you meet Peter, he becomes an old friend—instantly. Some of this admiration no doubt comes from the man’s incredible knowledge of tobaccos and for those that know Peter and his family’s history, this knowledge has come through generations of dedication and hard work. For those readers unfamiliar with the man responsible for such truly first class products as Bali Shag, McClintock, Long, the Stokkebye Private Labels, like Amsterdam Shag, Norwegian Shag, Danish Export, in addition to Zig-Zag’s Gold Standard Halfzware, Cigarettes Cheaper’s Noble and Geronimo blends, Master Roll, and far too many of the world’s finest pipe tobaccos to list in this article, as well as a line of cigars and premium collector grade pipes, which sell on E-Bay for upwards of $1,000 per pipe, let's introduce him with the short biography that follows:
In 1882, the Stokkebye Company was founded by Peter’s grandfather, Erik Peter Stokkebye, in Odense, Denmark. The senior Erik learned the art of hand rolling fine cigars in Copenhagen and at the age of 24 opened his first retail cigar shop, making cigars in a back room on the premises. Grandfather Stokkebye expanded his business quickly to include premium pipes and chewing tobaccos. His fame spread rapidly throughout Denmark. His son, Erik Poul Stokkebye, took over the family business at the age of 28. Now, unlike royal families who pass down power and control by lineage rather than experience or knowledge, every Stokkebye before being allowed a position, much less the reigns of the company, worked extensively in all aspects of the business and, each in turn, became masters of the trade. Erik Poul, Peter's father, studied extensively in Denmark, Holland, and Indonesia, the art of tobacco manufacturing. His clientele as the head of the Stokkebye operation included Sir Winston Churchill and was responsible for founding the Stokkebye Tobacco Museum, one of the world's most comprehensive collection of tobacco memorabilia. Peter, as a young man, served King Frederik the Ninth of Denmark in the Royal Guard at the Copenhagen Palace. The young Stokkebye, age 19 in 1950, can be seen in full guard regalia in the left side of the photo collage at the top of this article. (“Peter Stokkebye—Royalty Without Title,” ryomagazine.com).
The “Free” Cigarette
In the early 1980s, there were at least three non-tobacco, or herbal, cigarettes that were developed and marketed as “safer,” but they were not commercially successful. However, believing that there was an expanding market for non-tobacco and herbal cigarettes in the United States, Peter told me that his vice president/chief marketing executive and Chairman of the Board, Lee Danna, had studied the demand and the many cigarette brands in Great Britain containing herbs, rather than tobacco, were very popular, and had asserted that “Free” would be a success in the United States. Based on this counsel, Peter green-lighted several million dollars to manufacture and market a cigarette that contained no tobacco; as I vaguely remember from long ago, Peter had mentioned marjoram and thyme as two of the ingredients.
On the back of the package: “FREE [©1979] is a new experience in smoking. After years of research, we have developed a Non-Tobacco smoke that contains absolutely no nicotine.”
Good Packaging, Vol. 1, 12, 1980: Try “Free,” the non-nicotine Smoke by International Brands, Los Gatos, California. Peter Stokkebye’s “Free” cigarettes, and other so-called “safer tobacco” products. “Free,” P. O. Box 157, Los Gatos, CA., 95030 (from the early1980s). “Peter Stokkebye Vice Chairman The company’s legal counsel has reviewed the product with appropriate agencies of the federal government. Since it contains no tobacco, FREE cannot be classified as a cigarette ... ‘Free’ the Non-Nicotine Smoke” (Good Packaging, Vol. 41, 1980).
I quote from Peter’s biography: “The plan was to create the new cigarette from the outer shell of cocoa nuts. …I agreed to get involved, but with the stipulation that I would invest no money in the project. …We set about making a cigarette that would change the smoking habits of the world. …The cigarette’s taste was terrible. The smell was disgusting.”
Accompanying the photo (right) is the statement: “Peter Stokkebye: His FREE cigarettes have no nicotine (or tobacco) in them, but experts warn that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not dangerous to your health (1/20/1981).”
The following quotation is attributed to Dorothy Parker, but it’s unlikely, because she died in 1967. “Free (Early 1980s). What fresh hell is THIS? A NON-TOBACCO cigarette? Yup, Free was the brand you sought when Carlton was simply too much. I tried a Free back in 1981 and I gagged. I mean upchuck gagged. They were the worst EVER. Free didn't last long (obviously), first, they were horrible. Second, they got shoplifted a lot by unsuspecting smokers (“But officer, it says it’s ‘Free’! If I were a cop, I’d have let the shoplifter go and let karma do it’s [sic] job.) And having no nicotine and questionable ingredients was a total buzzkill. And finally, you could legally sell these to kids, as it contained no tobacco and nicotine (therefore, no warning label either.) This upset a lot of parents. And Free vanished” (historysdumpster.blogspot.com).
As Peter recounted, he had debuted “Free” at the Retail Tobacco Dealer Association (RTDA) annual trade show in, I believe, 1980 or 1981. Just about every member-exhibitor pooh-poohed the idea, in particular, Malcom Fleischer, the RTDA President, who told him in words to this effect: “Peter, the RTDA sells tobacco products, not non-tobacco products.” Essentially, the RTDA did not welcome “Free,” and the vast majority of member-exhibitors decided not to sell it. Eventually, International Brands was forced to declare bankruptcy, followed by Peter who also filed for bankruptcy.
Sometime in the early 1990s, Peter invited me to his home in California to conduct a formal appraisal of his grandfather’s pipe collection. Soon thereafter, he sold it to an American pipe collector for a substantial sum. The sale gave him slight financial assistance; it was, figuratively speaking, a drop in the financial bucket, vis-a-vis the huge loss his company had suffered from the R&D, production, and marketing of “Free.”
I did not contact or see Peter again, but “the Grand Master of Tobacco Blends,” somewhat recovered, financially and emotionally, and continued importing pipe tobaccos and pipes. Having served in the Royal Guard at the Copenhagen Palace as a young man, Peter followed a U.S. Army tradition: “He continued to march” and to “soldier on” until, according to an old British Army song, like all soldiers, he simply faded away. Today, his son, Erik Michael, leads the company.
Postscript. The “Free” cigarette has long been forgotten, and it’s now impossible to read anything about it other than in Peter’s autobiography. However, I did find a 2024 original audio recording from ramonaandtheholysmokes (Ramona Martinez, instagram.com): “Don’t forget that this is in promotion for our new single: I LOVE SMOKING which drops tonight at midnight!” One of its lines: “If you desire to roll your own, get yourself a pack of Peter Stokkebye.” I haven’t a clue as to what inspired her to revise a 1940s jingle in 2024 and mention Peter, 21 years after he had passed away. It’s as Yul Brynner sang in the movie, “The King and I,” “It’s a puzzlement.”