Chacom Antique 979C Sandblasted Zulu (Estate)

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.

The Antique was a line of pipes made by Chacom years ago, and a really nice one at that. I have to wonder if it was discontinued because it’s not the best name for “search engine optimization” and all of that computer wizardry, though it may simply be that Chapuis-Comoy opted to move such designs to their Ropp make, once the latter came to represent the company’s more “traditional” output. The name was fitting, though, as there was something delightfully old fashioned about the Chacom Antique. Such pipes were distinguished by their reserved, near-black sandblast finishes and simple vulcanite mouthpieces, recalling the pipes that we today might think of as “antique” pieces (within which, funnily enough, a fair few century-old Chacoms would likely feature). This one is a classic Zulu rendition, with remarkably crisp and consistent ring grain relief.

The condition is very good. Minor rim darkening and slight finish fading.

Details:

Length: 6.9″ / 175.2mm

Bowl Width: 0.81 / 20.57mm

Bowl Depth: 1.64″ / 41.65mm

Weight: 1.1oz / 32g