Chacom Blue Riband 944 Smooth Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked, 9mm

Description

Chacom is one of France’s most historic and iconic makes. Its founders, the Comoy family, began their career as boxwood pipe-makers in the early 1800s, before briar had even been discovered, with Henri Comoy (of Comoy’s fame) emigrating to England in 1879 and founding the country’s first briar pipe factory. In 1922, Henri and his nephews, the Chapuis, founded the Chapuis Comoy pipe factory in Saint-Claude, France, which shortly after began producing pipes bearing the partnered families’ names – ‘Cha’ for Chapuis, and ‘Com’ for Comoy. Chacom has been the biggest name in French pipes ever since.

While ‘Blue Riband’ is most famously associated with the Comoy’s make, this pipe from its cousin Chacom has also been bestowed that title. Why is that? Well, it is important to know that ‘Blue Riband’ was not a term invented by Comoy’s, but was, rather, an idiom in the 20th century used to refer to something as being of the highest grade. Blue ‘ribands’ were given to the first-place winners of competitions, with ‘riband’ being an archaic form of the modern word, ‘ribbon.’

Anyway, etymology lesson over. Chacom doesn’t make the Blue Riband line anymore, and hasn’t for several years, so here’s your chance to get one for a very reasonable price. It’s a really lovely pipe, with a quite unorthodox silver-grey stain that nonetheless does well to bring out the bird’s-eye grain patterns underneath. The stem is also hand cut. The pipe is chambered for 9mm filters, but comes with its original adapter for non-filter use, should its new owner prefer.

The pipe is also completely unsmoked, with a factory-original bowl coating to help ease in its first smokes. The band had some patina. It also comes with its original sleeve and box, with the latter being slightly scuffed, but still in good shape.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.87 / 22.09mm

Bowl Depth: 1.74″ / 44.19mm

Weight: 2.0oz / 58g