Butz Choquin Pallas Extra St Claude France 7722 Pocket Billiard Acrylic Stem

Pallas over Extra and ST CLAUDE / FRANCE / 7722 on the shank, and BC in white on the stem: this is a Butz-Choquin Pallas Extra 7722, a pocket-size billiard in smooth briar on an acrylic saddle stem with a fishtail mouthpiece, bored for a 6 mm filter.

It is pre-smoked, in excellent mint condition. Pallas and 7722 read clearly, Extra and the ST CLAUDE / FRANCE lines are legible, and the BC monogram shows plainly on the stem; the words BUTZ-CHOQUIN themselves are not visible in the photographs.

Butz-Choquin goes back to Metz in 1858. That year the tobacconist Jean-Baptiste Choquin and his first workman, Gustave Butz, who became his son-in-law the same year, created the Choquin pipe, a bent pipe with a flat-bottomed bowl and a hollow mouthpiece extension of albatross bone held by silver rings. The painter Corot was one of its owners, and a Nadar photograph of him with his Choquin later appeared in the firm's advertisements. Butz went on to build the Metz house under both names.

Before 1951 various makers produced and sold the pipes, among them Berrod-Regad, which bought the trademark in 1951 and moved the work to Saint-Claude. Exports began in 1960, the year the brand also took the Gold Cup of French good taste, and the range grew from 10 series to 70; the designer Joe Colombo drew its Optimal pipes in the 1960s. Jean Paul Berrod led the company from 1969 until 2002, when he sold it to Fabien Guichon, born in Saint-Claude, and in 2006 Denis Blanc of EWA took over S.A. Berrod-Regad.

THE MARKS

- Pallas / Extra stamped on the shank
- ST CLAUDE / FRANCE / 7722 stamped on the shank
- BC in white on the stem
- BUTZ-CHOQUIN: not visible in the photographs

The ST CLAUDE wording dates the pipe to after 1951, when Berrod-Regad took over the trademark and moved production to Saint-Claude. No meaning is recorded for Pallas, Extra or the number 7722, so no narrower date is claimed.

A billiard is the classic upright bowl on a round shank, and as a pocket-size pipe this one is compact: 137 mm long, with a bowl 45 mm high and 38 mm wide. The saddle stem carries the BC monogram, and it ends in a fishtail mouthpiece.

The finish is smooth, a light natural tone under a high shine.

Condition: pre-smoked, in excellent mint condition.

THE MEASUREMENTS

- Length: 137 mm (5.39 in)
- Bowl height: 45 mm (1.77 in)
- Bowl width: 38 mm (1.50 in)
- Chamber diameter: 20 mm (0.79 in)
- Chamber depth: 38 mm (1.50 in)
- Weight: 41 g (1.45 oz)

Ships from the Faridunhill archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe. SKU: 472