[Chacom pipe interview] The famous Saint-Claude pipe

Antoine Grenard, director of the Chacom pipe house, has given us an exclusive interview and looks back over an unusual career.

Antoine Grenard – Photo credit Chacom

Smoking > Who are you? // Introduce yourself to our readers.
Antoine Grenard > "I come from the Jura and grew up in Saint-Claude alongside my mother's family.
After studying mechanical engineering at the IUT in Besançon, I continued at a design school in Valenciennes. My first professional experience was in Paris with Ora-ïto, the well-known French designer. The projects we had were varied and very interesting, since they covered product design (the famous Heineken beer can) as much as architecture.
A few months later, as Paris life did not suit me, I felt the need to go back to my roots, to Saint-Claude. That is when I started working with my father in the family company, Chapuis Comoy. I had the chance to work in every position, from production to communication and online visibility. I was still looking for a design job between Lyon and Geneva, though, without much success. My wife and I decided to go to Ireland for a holiday and ended up staying a year and a half."

Smoking > When and how did you join the pipe industry?
AG > "In August 2005 my father called me and asked what I wanted to do, whether I wanted to take over the family company. He gave me 24 hours to think it over and give him an answer. The short night that followed brought me back to our mountains for good. It has to be said that I was born into the pipe: my father always worked in the sector and my mother did a great deal for the pipe makers' guild. In the end the choice came naturally, and was not calculated at all. I did not see myself in this sector, because I had watched my father go through some real difficulties that did not make me want to take up the trade.
I said yes and in 2007 I took over the joint management of the company with my father, until his death in 2012. I was lucky enough to work with him for a few years, which allowed me to learn the workings of the trade and to meet the customers.
Things have not always been simple, but I have tried to bring my experience and my designer's eye. Every year we have new collections, but that side of my role in the company accounts for only 3% of my time. I delegate a great deal to the 24 members of our team."

Smoking > Which stage of the design process interests you most? And which one still surprises you?
AG > "There are many very interesting stages in making a pipe, full of knowledge and sometimes of collective memory. But I would say that rough shaping is a particular skill, especially with our very old machines. What fascinates me every day is the manual dexterity involved in the polishing work of our master craftsmen.
We enjoy the variety of every stage of the process: the design, the line, the rough shaping, the recalibrating, the making of the stems, which we insist on producing ourselves. Keeping those operations in-house allows us to stand behind our products and to add our own signature."

Smoking > The world of the pipe is often associated with older generations. Do you think it is set to get younger?
AG > "There is a real phenomenon at the moment; we see it in the shop and at trade fairs, and it seems to me much more marked in the United States. With the hipster style very much in fashion at present, we are seeing a renewal of the clientele, which is getting younger. People are taking an interest and want to smoke differently, but they still stay cautiously with very classic products."

Smoking > Do you sell your work internationally?
AG > "I work abroad through distributors. They buy and resell our products to tobacconists or any other retailers. In the Netherlands I have a sales agent."

Smoking > What care advice would you give our pipe smokers?
AG > "We advise our customers to keep one pipe per type of tobacco so as to avoid mixing the aromas. It is important to make sure the pipe is properly cleaned after each use. If you look after it, this is an object you can keep for life.
It can become an accessory to match your habits, your clothes and the occasion. Depending on the size of the bowl the smoking time varies, and the style of the stem, the materials used and the colours are all things that will set your pipe apart from anyone else's."

Smoking > What news or innovation will our readers find with Chacom this year?
AG > "We have very recently moved our factory and our offices in order to offer our customers a "Showroom-Museum" space, which allows us to present the history of Saint-Claude and to show how we make our pipes today.
The movements and techniques have not changed in nearly two centuries; we use the same machines and the same gestures are repeated, and that is where it seemed important to us to show the work involved in making a pipe. All the visitors to our exhibition are very surprised by the unsuspected complexity of our craft work.
As for product news, what I would say is that the essential Chacom is always the next one."

Chacom pipe – Photo credit Chacom

Smoking > What skills or training do you need to be recruited at Chacom?
AG > "There is no particular school for joining a company like Chapuis Comoy. Our craft is handed down from one generation to the next and requires several years working in pairs. Woodworking school gives good foundations but is not compulsory. Commitment and dexterity are the qualities we look for, and they often turn up in the hobbies section of the CVs we receive."

Smoking > What anecdote or quotation would you like to share with us?
AG > "I am very fond of the Churchill quotation: I am easily satisfied with the best.
"The anecdote that comes to mind is what visitors to our showroom tell us as they leave the museum: well, we have learned something here. We had no idea there was so much work in making a pipe."

Selection of Chacom pipes – Photo credit Chacom