Fader

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Fader's has been a tobacconist in Maryland since 1891, founded by Abraham Fader.

Shop compilation, courtesy Doug Valitchka
Fader's Special Import (1958), courtesy Racine & Laramie Tobacconist
Fader's Ad featuring a Comoy's set at a cost of $10K, courtesy Doug Valitchka

Abraham died in 1934 and the business was taken over by Ira B. Fader, his son, until his eventual death in 1959. At that point Ira "Bill" Fader took over and ran the shop for decades himself. It was Bill Fader who first expanded the store, opening the Towson, Maryland location as the second in the chain in 1965.

Sadly, in 1998, this 107 year long family business was passed on not to a fourth generation, but to AFADCO Corporation of Baltimore, a cigar and tobacco retailer, which merged with Lancaster Venture and changed the name of the concern to Fader's. Bill Fader continued to work as a tobacconist and as the Retail Tobacco Dealers of America, of which he was the executive director.

Only four years after the sale of A. Fader & Son, Inc., however, the cigar "boom" tapered off and the stores were split up among the various investors.

While Fader's continues to offer pipes from a great many makers, they do not currently offer their own line of pipes. However, they often offered house lines over the years, including the Fader, made by the Shalom Pipe Factory in Israel, Fader's Calvert, named for the store's flagship location at 12. S. Calvert Street in downtown Baltimore, Fader's English Rough, Fader's M/L, lined with African meerschaum, Fader's Tan Blast, which was made in Italy, Fader's Naturals, and Fader's Filter Pipe.

Prior to the early 1960s, Fader's also employed its last in house master pipe craftsman, Josef "Hoffie" Hoffman, now a broken pipe.