BC pipes

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Aaron

Aaron

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Does anyone have any experience with BC (Butz Choquin) pipes? We have one at the shop I work at that I am really liking and thought I'd ask about them here.
 
I've had four over the years, passed three on but kept one. OK overall, for the money. It's in my regular rotation, but not a favorite. Two of the ones I sold smoked rather wet.

Natch
 
I got an old, top tier BC stummel (stem lost or broken) on eBay for a song, got a stem put on it, & love it. Nice briar & fine workmanship.

The top shelf output of any bigger company (Savinelli, Brebbia, BC, Peterson, &c.) is likely to be good. It's the stuff at the other end of the quality scale I'd shy away from, regardless of the name on it.

:face:
 
In the early 90's after a hiatis from pipes for a few years, my oldest son gave me one as a Father's Day present. It got me back on pipes... I tossed the stinger, smoked the heck out it, tortured it and tossed it. That's how I smoked pipes over the years... mainly medicos and then tossed them. After the B/C I started buying Brighams.

As I recall, I enjoyed the pipe but as I said... I abused it. :(

I recently saw a couple of BC calashes in a B&M up here that looked pretty neat but settled on a Stanwell.
 
Wooo... Aaron... that's the Calabash :lol: ... pretty nice looking eh. :D
 
Butz-Choquin is a historically important company, it's one of the first pipemaking companies in Saint-Claude, the cradle of continental European pipemaking. Modern ones are not really good, they're factory made lower grade and personally I don't like their aesthetics. If the one you have in your shop is not too expensive it's worth a try though, it may turn out to be a nice one:)
 
Slow Puffs, the stinger? What is the stinger?
 
My first internet pipe purchase was a cheap rusticated BC... I call it my "French Bulldog." The driling is not great, but it's done good duty as a knockaround pipe.

(And a stinger is a metal condenser that sits in the tenon. Screw-in-stem Kaywoodies have 'em.)
 
Ah okay I was wondering what exactly those things were called. We have them in a few of the pipes in the shop. And they are removable huh? cool.
 
I have at least three BC pipes that I can think of. A churchwarden, a bent billiard and an Oom Paul. All are good smokers. I think that they are a pretty good mid-range priced pipe ($50-$100) IMHO. None have the stinger and all are well made.
 
Bought some in the past, when cheap pipes was all I could afford. Poorly made (drilling and fit) and full of fills. Smoked ok, not great.

My experience with these pipes dates back to the 80's. I have tossed them all and haven't looked at the brand again. Perhaps they have improved since then...
 
Two observations on your picture, Aaron.

1) The more bent a pipe shape is, the more likely it is to condense moisture inside it. (Nobody's talking mechanical predestination here. Only liklihood).

2) That decorative wood on the rim is not likely (see above) to resist tarring up and charring nearly as well as briar would. Briar you can keep fairly clean fairly easily. Softwood trim ?

If I were in your situatiuon, I would be (in fact, I am) inclined to save my pennies until I had 10,000 of them or so, and spend them on something like a cleaned-up, newer Sea Rock (Castello) or something similar from somebody like Marty Pulvers (especially since Briar Blues is no more). I.e., get aquainted with something a step or two above what you're (I'm assuming, used to and thinking in terms of getting more of) familiar with. The coinage would be about comparable ; the resulting experience might not be.

:face:
 
i have one in my collection mostly a special occasion converstion starter pipe seeing that its a Figure pipe ie a carved figure of a person but it smokes great for what it is.
 
Aaron - I just purchased that exact pipe a short while ago! I'm still breaking it in and so far it smokes great. No problems. I like it a lot.

Dennis
 
Doe'nt Stanwell build a pretty nice calabash in that price range? I own three stannys and the drilling etc. is spot on in all of them., allthough the 63-M does grgle, it doesn't spit. Also, with that Army mount I can just remove stem and swab out any time.

Far as stingers Aaron, all the pipes I own which had em, mostly older, I removed it, personell preferance, they draw better. If it didn't screw out, I used a pair of pliers. Be gentle, you do not want to break the tenon.

Bruce
 
Bruce, are you talking about the Hans Christian Anderson pipes? Or did you have another one in mind?

I really would like to get a nice Calabash shape pipe but I don't really want a gourd.
 
A straight blast BC Makalu is near the top of my "why did I ever get rid of that pipe?" list. May still pull the trigger on one at Ziggy's someday. It smoked great...an entire football game worth.

Buddy
 
Big Smooth":rri9m2ww said:
Aaron - I just purchased that exact pipe a short while ago! I'm still breaking it in and so far it smokes great. No problems. I like it a lot.

Dennis
Click to expand...

Cool man, good to hear! I think I will purchase it after all.
 
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