Ascot

Ascot is a pipe name whose origins trace back to France's pipemaking capital, Saint-Claude. Today the brand is remembered less as a workshop in its own right than as a name a long-established manufacturer used for different markets in different periods. The fact that the same name was also used outside France is the aspect of this entry that most rewards a collector's caution.

The La Bruyère Period

The earliest records of Ascot point to the La Bruyère structure at Saint-Claude. After the 1929 crash shook the pipe industry of the Jura region, Chapuis-Comoy & Cie merged with another company in 1932 to begin operating under the name La Bruyère. According to the manufacturer's own history, this merger produced the largest pipe concern of its day, with more than four hundred fifty workers. The partnership ended in 1957 as the commercial weight of the Chacom brand became decisive, and the company reverted to its old name. From that point on, Ascot was carried forward not as an independent concern but as a sub-brand of Chacom.

The main obstacle to dating the brand is its stamping: older Ascot pipes carry no mark pointing to a manufacturer, so placing a pipe in the La Bruyère years is usually a matter of reading shape and workmanship. Recent examples are unambiguous, however, bearing Chacom's "CC" mark on the mouthpiece. These later series are recognized by a trio of features: an army-style push-bit joint between shank and mouthpiece with no screw thread, a horn-look acrylic mouthpiece, and a 9 mm filter chamber. This choice of fittings was no accident — these series were made primarily for the German market, which was accustomed to filtered pipes.