Chacom Bayard 334 Smooth Apple Estate Briar Pipe, French Estates

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.

With a name that evokes the mythical horse of Medieval French culture, the Bayard is a line that, like so many others over Chacom’s long history, has gone through a number of iterations. The contemporary Bayard is a very reserved design, with a dark, reddish-brown stain and an acrylic stem. By contrast, this earlier iteration of the Bayard is far more lively, with a virgin stain highlighting its swirling grain patterns, and a black ebonite stem that provides for a stronger contrast with the bowl’s finish. Each has its merits, though this one, of course, is no longer in production.

The condition is very good. Some minor wear to the rim and a couple of small, superficial scratches on the front of the bowl.

 

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.84 / 21.33mm

Bowl Depth: 1.50″ / 38.10mm

Weight: 1.3oz / 38g