Butz-Choquin Regate Major 1400 St Claude Smooth Straight Billiard 9mm Estate Pipe

The shank carries a single stamp: LARGE SMOOTH. No maker's name sits beside it, no country of origin, no model number - just the two words this pipe wears as its own designation, and the two words we are told to trust because a collector read them off the briar with his own eyes.

This is a large straight billiard, briar, finished smooth, fitted with a vulcanite tapered stem cut to a fishtail bit and bored to take a 9mm filter. Beyond the LARGE SMOOTH stamp, no further marking is reported on the shank or stem, and we attach no firm, era, or factory history to it that we cannot verify.

The billiard is the reference point against which most other bowl shapes are measured: straight sides, a flat or gently rounded bottom, a shank that runs level with the rim, no flare, no curve. It is the shape a new pipe smoker is handed first because there is nothing in the geometry to distract from the tobacco - a wide, even chamber, a straight draw from bowl to bit, and enough wood around the ember to hold heat evenly through a full bowl. At the dimensions given here - a 40mm chamber depth and roughly 20mm diameter, sitting inside a bowl standing 50mm tall - this example runs on the larger side of the pattern. A deeper, slightly narrower chamber than a standard billiard rewards a slower cadence: more tobacco per load, a longer smoke, and less need to relight if the smoker paces the draw rather than pulling hard.

The vulcanite tapered stem is the traditional partner to a straight billiard shank - a stem that narrows gradually from the shank face to the button rather than stepping down at a fixed diameter, which is what lets the mouthpiece sit flush and the whole pipe read as one continuous line when held up to the light. Vulcanite - hard rubber - takes a high polish when new and is the material most pre-war and mid-century pipes were fitted with before acrylic became common; it is also the material that oxidizes to a dull olive-brown with age and UV exposure, and the material that shows tooth marks readily because it is softer than acrylic. A fishtail bit - the slot end flaring into two shallow wings rather than staying a plain oval - is a comfort cut: it spreads the bite surface across a wider area of the lower lip and is generally judged gentler on the teeth over long clenching sessions than a narrow round bit.

The 9mm filter bore is a European format, most associated with German and Central European pipe making, and it changes the physics of the draw: the filter adds resistance and pulls some moisture and tar out of the smoke stream before it reaches the tongue, at the cost of an airway a shade tighter than an unfiltered pipe of the same bowl size. A smoker who dislikes the resistance can generally run the pipe with an adapter or without a filter at all, since the bore is simply a straight channel through the stem.

THE MARKS
- LARGE SMOOTH, stamped on the shank

Condition: this is a pre-owned, previously smoked pipe in good overall condition. The rim shows darkening and small dents. The stain shows faint scratches around the briar. The stem shows bite marks. No cracks, fills, or repairs are reported.

Finish and grain: see the photographs.

THE MEASUREMENTS
Length 160mm (6.3") - bowl height 50mm (2.0") - bowl width 40mm (1.6") - chamber diameter 20mm (0.8") - chamber depth 45mm (1.8") - weight 51g (1.8 oz) - 9mm filter

Ships from the Faridunhill / Pipe Collectors Encyclopedia archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe.

SKU: 411