Chacom

Chacom is a pipe brand produced in France's Saint-Claude region, in the Jura mountains, and it takes its name from the first syllables of its founding families' surnames (CHApuis and COMoy). Resting on the partnership between the Chapuis and Comoy families, formalized in 1922 as the company Chapuis-Comoy, the brand is counted today among the most recognized representatives of the French pipe-making school and is known as one of the few factories still carrying on the region's pipe tradition of more than a hundred and fifty years.

The Shared History of Two Families

According to the company's official history, the Comoy family had been making pipes in the Saint-Claude region since 1825; the earliest pipes were made of boxwood, and the same history counts Napoleon's army among the buyers. The discovery of briar as a pipe material in 1856 changed the region's fate: Saint-Claude quickly became the pipe capital of the world. The details of this transformation are covered in the entry on the Briar Revolution and Saint-Claude.

Henry Comoy, whose name the brand carries, was born in 1850. Taken prisoner during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and held in Switzerland, Henri Comoy laid the groundwork there for a future partnership with his Chapuis cousins. In 1879 he settled in London with his masters and founded H. Comoy & Co.; this firm went on to become Comoy's of London, one of the pioneers of the British pipe industry. The partnership between the two families was formalized in 1922, and the Saint-Claude factory took the name Chapuis-Comoy & Cie. When Henri Comoy died in 1924, management of the two factories passed to his sons Paul and Adrien; their cousins Emile and Louis Chapuis were also part of this leadership. The company thus passed to a second generation within the family.

The Birth of the Brand and the Years of the Depression

The Chacom name appeared in 1928. Now that the London factory was making its own pipes, this brand — drawn from the first syllables of the two surnames — was created to give the Saint-Claude production a separate identity. Two sister brands from the same family tree were thus born on either side of the Channel: Comoy's in London, Chacom in Saint-Claude. The date of 1825, which appears often in brand promotion, marks the start of the family tradition, not the company; the company was founded in 1922, the brand in 1928.

To weather the global economic depression that began in 1929, the company merged with other manufacturers in 1932 under the name La Bruyère; according to the company's history, with 450 employees this made it the largest pipe organization in the world at the time. Because of the weight the Chacom name had gained, the company reverted to the name Chapuis-Comoy & Cie in 1957.

From its founding until 1939, Chacom was sold only in France, Belgium, and Switzerland. The reason was not commercial but familial: the aim was to avoid direct competition with Comoy pipes, which shared the same shapes and the same quality. This restriction fell away after the Second World War; according to the company's history, Chacom gained full commercial freedom in 1945 and made its comeback with a renewed range of series. By 1946 it was considered the leading brand in France and Belgium; within the following two years it opened into the markets of Scandinavia, Germany, and the United States. In 1965 it became the first French pipe brand sold under its own name in Japan.

Changes in Management and Design Series

On Adrien Comoy's death in 1964, his son Pierre took over the London firm. In 1971 the company regained its independence from Comoy's of London, and Pierre Comoy's second cousin Yves Grenard took over management of Chapuis-Comoy; the rights to sell H. Comoy pipes in France also passed to the company at the same time. After this separation, Chacom set out to build its own design line.

The first step in this direction came in 1978, with independent freehand maker Pierre Morel. The series Morel shaped entirely by hand for Chacom took the name Grand Cru; the freehand shapes Naja and "Fleur de Bruyère" are also his work. Morel joined the company full-time in 1987, and continued making Grand Cru pipes even after his retirement in 2009. Records indicate he was honored in 2007 with Meilleur Ouvrier de France, the highest title France awards for craftsmanship.

In 1994 the company absorbed Ropp, whose factory had closed three years earlier; in the same years the rights to Saint-Claude brands such as Jeantet, Vuillard, and Jean Lacroix were gathered under the same roof. In 1996 Volute, developed with designer Claude Robin, was recognized as the brand's first "design pipe"; a second version followed in 1998. In 1997 Chacom became the first French pipe exported to Russia, and in 2002 it entered the Chinese market. In 1999 a joint project run by the trade association with outside designers produced the Pastel collection along with the Hedo and Cyclade models. In 2001 Yves Grenard designed the Millenium series, conceived so that a new shape would be added each year; in 2003 a design line signed by Erwin Van Handenhoven, inlaid in black or mother-of-pearl, was added.

Chacom Today

Yves Grenard was succeeded in 2007 by his design-trained son Antoine Grenard; the Grenard family continues the Comoy line. The Monza, bearing Antoine Grenard's signature, is counted among the brand's contemporary models that depart from the classic shapes. In 2013 the company received the "Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant" (Living Heritage Business) certification, which France awards to businesses keeping deep-rooted craft knowledge alive. Having worked for more than a century in Saint-Claude's Faubourg district, the workshop moved in 2016 to neighboring Villard-Saint-Sauveur; there the factory was gathered under the same roof as a pipe museum open to visitors.

Today Chacom exports to 35 countries and remains a factory brand carrying on the Saint-Claude tradition; how this manner of production differs from artisan production is discussed in the entry on Artisan Pipe and Factory Pipe. The shared story of Chacom and Comoy's of London, both born from the same root, is considered one of the best examples of just how intertwined the British and French pipe industries have been.