Butz-Choquin

Butz-Choquin is a pipe brand founded in 1858 in the city of Metz in northeastern France, taking its name from the surnames of its two founders, Jean-Baptiste Choquin and Gustave Butz. With a history spanning more than a hundred and sixty years, it is counted among the oldest brands in the French pipe industry, and today continues production in Saint-Claude, the town at the center of the country's pipe tradition.

A Design Born From a Shop

Butz-Choquin's origins lie not in a pipe workshop but in a retail tobacco business. Jean-Baptiste Choquin's shop in Metz was busy enough by the mid-nineteenth century to employ several people, and Gustave Butz was among that staff. The pair's relationship turned into kinship in 1858, when Butz married Choquin's daughter, Marie.

The "Choquin pipe," which appeared that same year, is considered the brand's founding product. The distinguishing feature of this bent-shaped model was its flattened bowl base, which allowed the pipe to stand upright on a surface. Records note that the model's mouthpiece was made of albatross bone and attached to the bowl with silver bands — a detail that rests on the brand's own history and the collector sources that draw on it. To take the design beyond individual commissions, Butz opened a workshop in Metz that same year, 1858; the business came to be known by its present name, formed from the combination of the two surnames.