A Little Saint Claude, France, History

[mso489]

Here's a write-up from The New York Times on Saint Claude, France, and its pipe industry,

which originated the use of briars as the principle material for tobacco pipes:
www.nytimes.com/.../shopper-s-world-the-pipe-capital-of-france.html‎

 

[northernneil]

The link takes me to a page that doen't exist

 

[cosmicfolklore]

NY Times

I think this is it. It is a 30 year old article, but it matches most of the URL that he posted.

 

[mso489]

Yup, it's from 1983, but not much of the info has changed. I think the current population is about

13,000, which is really small given the number of pipe making outfits they have. Other than London,

it may have the most pipe makers in one place. Some of their tourism sites don't even mention pipes.

 

[sfsteves]

I've got an old 1/4-bent bulldog whose nomenclature reads
St. Tropez / St. Claude, France
it's a pretty decent smoker ...

 

[mso489]

I think that the remoteness of this little pipe making capital may help keep down the overhead and allow

French pipe makers to undersell their competition. At the low-price end, some of the savings are breathtaking.

Look at Chapuis-Comoy, Ewa, and some of the less expensive BC's, and these are all surprisingly high quality

pipes for the price. Go on up to mid-level, and the value remains well above the price point. Being in the

provinces, the French pipe makers haven't forgotten France's pride in design and the visual arts, and they

make some of the most visually pleasing machine and handmade pipes available. I do love my U.S., Italian,

Danish, and Irish pipes, but France is highly competitive. After all, Saint Claude is said to be the birthplace of the briar pipe.

 

[northernneil]

This was a good article. I have been a huge fan of St. Claude pipes ever since I bought my first Chacom! And I will continue to purchase pipe from that area for many reasons. The main one being value. I have 9 pipes that were manufactured in St. Claude, and they are all great smokers, and only one of the 9 pipes was over $125, with the majority being below $100.

 

[lightmyfire]

French briar pipes are underestimated and this gives to smokers real opportunities to buy excellent pipes for cheap prices, but is also a very difficult market to be competitive for a new carver.

 

[mso489]

Pipe carvers everywhere, it is only a small percent of those who practice the craft who can make a living

at it. You work incredibly hard to get to that level; you have a tremendous talent that shows immediately

in sales situations; you can raise your price enough, soon enough, to get launched; you find retail outlets

so you don't have to spend too much time selling the pipes directly to consumers; and you have an acute

business sense to keep the whole project in the road, which probably means a truck load of self-discipline,

as with any small business. And, always, luck that favors your talent and drive. The fact that some carvers

can sell creatively unique pipes at $100 or less is dumfounding.