Butz Choquin Supermate Major St Claude France 1028 Estate Pipe

Butz-Choquin in script over Supermate and MAJOR on one side of the shank, ST CLAUDE / FRANCE and the shape number 1028 on the other, and BC in a round inlay on the stem: this is a Butz-Choquin Supermate Major 1028, a bent Rhodesian in smooth briar on a vulcanite saddle stem with a fishtail mouthpiece.

It is pre-smoked, in good condition, with faint scratches in the stain and bite marks on the stem, and it has no filter. Supermate, MAJOR and 1028 read clearly in the close-ups; the script name is legible, and the first letters of ST CLAUDE and FRANCE are soft.

The name joins two men from Metz. In 1858 the tobacconist Jean-Baptiste Choquin and his first workman Gustave Butz, who married into the family that same year, created the Choquin pipe: a bent pipe with a flat-bottomed bowl and a hollow mouthpiece extension of albatross bone, held with silver rings. The painter Corot smoked one, and a Nadar photograph of him with it later appeared in the firm's own advertisements. Butz built up the Metz house under the joined name Butz-Choquin. (A Dan Pipe catalogue of 2017 says the two men met in 1857 and founded the firm the following year, which agrees.)

Until 1951 the pipes were made and sold by various makers, Berrod-Regad among them. In 1951 Berrod-Regad bought the trademark and moved production to Saint-Claude. From 1960 the brand entered export markets and won the Gold Cup of French good taste, and its collection grew from 10 to 70 series; in the 1960s the designer Joe Colombo drew the Optimal pipes for it. Jean Paul Berrod managed the firm from 1969 to 2002, when he sold it to Fabien Guichon of Saint-Claude, and in 2006 Denis Blanc, owner of EWA, took over Berrod-Regad.

THE MARKS

- Butz-Choquin (script) / Supermate / MAJOR stamped on the shank
- ST CLAUDE / FRANCE / 1028 stamped on the shank
- BC in a round inlay on the stem

Supermate is a Butz-Choquin line, and Major is one of the sizes - alongside Geantes and Geante Plus - named in an undated Saint-Claude catalogue of the firm. Shape 1028 is recorded as a Rhodesian in a restorer's account, which agrees with the shape of this pipe. A Rhodesian is a round bowl with a bulldog-style double line cut around its upper part, set on a round shank; on this pipe the double line circles the upper bowl and the stem is bent. The saddle stem is bent toward the bit, and the fishtail at the tip spreads the draw across the tongue.

The finish is smooth, and birdseye and straight grain show along the shank. Birdseye appears where the growth rings of the briar are cut end-on; straight grain where the block is cut along them.

For dating, the ST CLAUDE wording places the pipe after 1951, when Berrod-Regad took the trademark and moved production to Saint-Claude. No narrower date is claimed.

Condition: pre-smoked, in good condition, with faint scratches in the stain and bite marks on the stem.

THE MEASUREMENTS

- Length: 144 mm (5.67 in)
- Bowl height: 45 mm (1.77 in)
- Bowl width: 45 mm (1.77 in)
- Chamber diameter: 20 mm (0.79 in)
- Chamber depth: 32 mm (1.26 in)
- Weight: 59 g (2.08 oz)

Ships from the Faridunhill archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe. SKU: 449