Chacom - down the drain.

[Sasquatch]

For the first time in a long while, I bought a factory pipe the other day. It's the high-end model of a Chacom 214, a hungarian. I like the shape well enough to want to copy it, so I thought I'd grab the pipe. The hand cut stem is done pretty shabbily, and the finish on the briar is really pretty bad. Worst of all, the tenon occludes the airway a bit. All fixable by me, but your average smoker would have a loser on his hands.

The really sad thing is that out of 4 214s in the shop, I got the best one by far. One was so poorly drilled that I bet you couldn't even get air through it - the airway terminated against the tenon. Madness.

Anyway, this looks like a brand to avoid. Quality control is absent.

Just my .02

 

[Wet Dottle]

Sasquatch, I bought many when that was all I could afford, and that reflects exactly my impressions of the brand.

 

[Winslow]

About 8 years ago Knox had a big sale on Comoy's[the newer models]
Well I bought 3 and were they ever shitty.Fit and finish was a joke,I got
rid of them on E-Bay quickly and took my lumps.What was funny is one
of the guys who bought one from me had it up for sale on E-Bay 2 weeks
later.
Once you screw up a brand it's dead cause word gets around.I think Comoys
tried to straighten things out in the quality department several years later
but the damage was done and I don't know if their even being made today.

Winslow :sunny:

 

[Dock]

I come across this brand at flea markets and antique stores frequently. I have bought just one in my earlier years of pipe smoking, a big, bent, blasted scoop. It's stem was so tight I couldn't suck air through it! I think it was eventually tossed out

Not a good brand but pretty indicative of my experience with any French briar, Butz Choquin included.

 

[kilted1]

Oddly, I have a Chacom Crystal (perplex) stem blasted Billiard given to me by a friend which smokes like a champ. Its nothing special to look at, in fact the bit is chipped, the engineering is nothing special either, but it smokes very well.

That said, I've never ventured further with the brand, as there are IMHO many better pipes in the price range.

 

[old pipe guy]

I had 4 of these pipes all bought about the same time,never did smoke well at all, but weren't as bad as the ones you guys are talking about,just not good smokers,I had them sold on ebay .

 

[Sasquatch]

Corrected internally, mine smokes incredibly well. I like it a lot. But I would never buy one that I hadn't handled and thoroughly inspected. Mine was purchased solely so I could copy some drilling angles, and the results were nice:

My pipe - not the chacom!

 

[Dudley Dipstick]

Not a good brand but pretty indicative of my experience with any French briar, Butz Choquin included.

I own a Chacom Maya bent billiard that I'd describe as mediocre at best.

On the upside, I learned that lucite is indeed harder than vulcanite. The stem feels as though it might chip a tooth.

The day I got it in the mail, I was disappointed to see that it had a metal scoop in it. Thankfully it was only a screw-in.

I also have a Butz Choquin dress pipe that smokes hot every time and for whatever reason, is the only pipe I own that sometime during smoking needs to be relight at least once, no matter how well I've packed it.

 

[happypipester]

The second pipe I ever bought (not so long ago considering I just turned 18 in June lol) was a Butz-Choquin. I'm not extremely picky, but I think it's the worst I've ever bought. It looks nice, but it heats up wayyy too easily, and the drilling is crappy (even with the stem removed, I have difficulty getting the cleaner to go through properly.

I do smoke it, but I doubt I'll ever buy another one...

Now off to the bowl of Anniversary Kake I mentioned in another post lol.

 

[Justpipes]

I really like the shape.