In the 1980s, our shops in Oregon sold a lot of Chacom pipes. I probably have eight Chacom pipes, and just purchased a new one today. I am visiting Anchorage for my granddaughter's wedding and got a chance this afternoon to visit the 5th Avenue Cigars. I found this nice Chacom Gran' Large among their estate pipes. The gentleman at the store explained that they had a customer who would buy pipes, smoke them once or twice and then trade them back in and buy something else. This pipe may have been smoked one time, but it is not broken in yet. I smoked it this evening for the first time and found it quite promising or a pipe that wasn't broken in yet. I have three Chacon Match pipes that are good smokers, with the exception of one undersized bent that I recently acquired from an estate auction. It too had been smoked very little and still needs to be broken in properly. I also have two Chacom basket pipes that have been favorites for 30 plus years. Those two are ones I used while fishing because I figured if I lost it overboard I haven't lost a lot of money. My opinion on that has changed somewhat, now I feel if I lost one of them overboard, I would have lost a great smoking pipe! Some things are more important than money!
I am some expensive pipes, higher end Comoys and GBDs that are great smoking pipes, but it has been my experience that Chacom pipes give me more smoking pleasure per dollar then almost any other pipe brands. When a $10 Chacom basket pipe is one of your best smoking of the 80 some odd pipes I have left, I think that speaks well of the Chacom brand!