Chacom Fleur Black Sandblasted Freehand Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

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 this Fleur from Chacom might seem a little “Danish,” it is, instead—and as the name somewhat implies—rather “French” in origin. It is a shape that found its way onto the scene largely through France’s most famous pipe making dynasties, the Morel family, and in particular Pierre Morel Jr., arguably France’s most esteemed living artisan. It was Morel Jr. that designed Chacom’s first Fleur models in the 1970s, and though he had studied pipe making under Sixten Ivarsson as a young man, the Fleur was conceived quite independently from Danes such as Erik Nording or Preben Holm. It was to be a shape that, like Nording’s or Holm’s freehands, emphasized the beauty of natural briar grain, it was also somewhat figural in its imitation of a flower (“fleur” being the word’s French cognate). Five decades later, Chacom still “harvests” Fleurs as part of its handmade, higher-end output, as in the case of this craggy, near-black sandblasted rendition.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. It comes with its original box.

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.86 / 21.84mm

Bowl Depth: 1.98″ / 50.29mm

Weight: 1.8oz / 52g