Chacom, poor engineering or old wives tale?

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northernneil

Lifer
Jun 1, 2013
1,390
1
I have a healthy selection of Chacom pipes in my collection and have an interesting observation to share. All the Chacom pipes I have are drilled to allow for a stinger, which I remove. This leaves a gap between the beginning of the mortise and the end of the tenon. Now, traditional train of thought in pipe engineering is that this "gap" should be virtually nonexistent.

My experience with Chacom's, and other filtered pipes like Savinelli, tell me that there is a little leniency with this rule. Now, I do find these pipes tend to generate a little extra moisture during the break in period, but once seasoned, I am had pressed to find any flaws in smoke quality.

I'm just curious what others experiences have been?

 

drwatson

Lifer
Aug 3, 2010
1,721
5
toledo
I to have a couple Chacom pipes that smoke great. But if you ever look at Peterson, Savinelli, Stanwell, Etc... They all seem to have some sort of gap. The only pipe I actually had that went all the way actually ended up with broke tenon. So my vote would be old wives tale.

 

teufelhund

Lifer
Mar 5, 2013
1,497
3
St. Louis, MO
I have two Chacoms that I enjoy, but neither take filters or have stingers; so I guess I'm not help. They smoke great though and are by far my snazziest looking pipes.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
One of mine came with a stinger, but once removed, it smoked fine. The others don't have stingers, and all

are good smoking pipes.

 

northernneil

Lifer
Jun 1, 2013
1,390
1
Teufelhund & mso, some of my Chacom's did not come with the stinger either, but were still drilled for one. Basically all of my Chacom's have a 3 step mortise / air hole (air hole, stinger compartment, mortise). In my experience it doesn't matter if the pipe was shipped with the stinger or not.

Are your pipes that did not come with stingers still drilled to accept them?

 

darwin

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 9, 2014
820
5
Chacom seems to be all over the map on this. I have four and there is no sign of a stinger or drilling for such in any of them.

 

jmatt

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 25, 2014
770
74
My first pipe is a Chacom and it came with a stinger. It smoked fine. I removed the stinger and with the larger available airway the pipe has turned into one of my favorites again.

 

newbroom

Lifer
Jul 11, 2014
6,088
6,408
Florida
It would seem that space would catch gunk. They might require periodic cleanouts. I smoke pipes that I know have gaps between tenon and mortise so when I smoke them I give the mortise a swipe most of the time. As for the smokability, the draw is probably the most important for the burn and I think 66.66% of that is dependent on the draft hole's placement and finish. I don't KNOW it, I think it.

 

dottiewarden

Lifer
Mar 25, 2014
3,053
57
Toronto
All I can add is that I've never had a problem with a Chacom. I also like that the bowl is untreated bare briar. If I could only collect one brand of factory made pipe, it would be Chacom!

 

toby67

Can't Leave
Sep 30, 2014
413
1
Australia
In my opinion Chacom must be good pipes as they are part of the Comoy's family. I copied the following from the web and may have an unusual but beautiful pipe when bidding ends tomorrow.
The brand name Chacom is a combination of the family names Chapuis and Comoy. The factory was founded in Avignon, France in 1825, when the Comoy family started producing pipes there. Henry Comoy moved the production to London and from 1879 onwards he used his family name as a brand for his briar pipes. In 1922 the factory merged with one of his nephews Louis and Charles Chapuis. In the following period the production moved from London to Saint-Claude and several changes in names and ownership took place. The mark La Bruyère became the most important of the factory, since changes in names caused confusion.
Comoy's of London finally became part of the Cadogan-company, while Yves Grenard, descsendent of the original family Comoy, took over the leadership of the Saint-Claude factory owning the brand name Chacom. When the production ran backward drastically Chacom, Jeantet, Lacroix, Ropp and Vuillard united as the Cutty Fort enterprise. From that time onwards the factory is directed by Dominique Jeantet, the eighth generation of pipe makers and Yves Grenard, the fifth generation. At present Yves Grenard directs the factory, while his son Antoine Grenard assists since 2005.

 

sallow

Lifer
Jun 30, 2013
1,531
3,771
I have a Chacom, no stinger, no gap. It is a good smoker. Maybe I will smoke it next week.

chacom-1213-600x448.jpg


 

cobguy

Lifer
Oct 18, 2013
3,742
15
"I'm not a professional Chacom pipe smoker ... but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night" :)

 

toby67

Can't Leave
Sep 30, 2014
413
1
Australia
I should have it in a few days as it was eBay Australia I purchased it through. I was the only bidder and the pipe has seen very little use. Am happy it comes in its original sock and box also.

 
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