Pipe brands § 4

Genod Pipes

History

The history of the workshop Genod goes back to the year 1865, when the pipe-pioneer Comoy founded this factory in the heart of Saint-Claude. He united the workshop with David soon afterwards. In 1923 the house Comoy-David is taken over by Georges Vincent who continued the production in the style of Comoy-David. From 1939 Vincent worked together with his son in law John Craen, who became responsible for the technical development in the factory.

In 1959 Jacques Craen entered the scene and as third generation he soon was recognised as a many-sided pipemaker and manufacturer. From the year 1970 onwards Jacky Craen was director of the Société Vincent-Genod and in the same year he introduced the brandname Genod. When Jacky Craen took over the business in 1977 several changes and innovations took place. Craen opened a pipeshop in the centre of Saint-Claude, on the Place de l'Abbaye and also started guided visits to his workshop.

The shop in the centre of the villages functions as advertisement for his pipe brand, but also for the visits to the factory. In this charming and historic workshop time seems not to have ran through and an interesting show round through the factory learns visitors a lot about the techniques of pipemaking and the functioning of a pipe factory in general.

In 2006 the young pipemaker Sebastien Beaud started his work in Jacky's factory. As Craen himself he took over the brand Viou to start with. In future he will take over the business in its entire and continue this sympathetic workshop in its traditional way.

Characteristics

Originally the pipes of the House Comoy-David were based on the shapes of the clay tobacco pipes, they were characterised by a stem all of wood. Not as early as the year 1900 designs matching with the possibilities of briar wood were introduced. When the firm was taken over by Vincent, already a complete line of classical shapes was developed. Next to the high quality of traditional shapes a line of original and own designs was launched. Nevertheless, although an international line in pipe shapes exists, many of the Genod pipes have characteristics of their own. In general, their shapes are slightly more explicit and the larger pipes overrule the smaller.

The creative leadership of Jacky Craen brought several types of freehand and special shapes. In those designs briar wood was often alternated with buffalo horn and colourful acrylics. At present Genod carries an assortment of traditional shapes in the classic style next to own designs. A certain preference for bent shapes is clear, due to the fact that Jacky Craen prefers to smoke from bents but also because of his technical admiration for the drilling of the bent stems.

The Smokiana pipeshop selection

Smokiana pipeshop is the only shop in the Netherlands that carries an assortment of Genod pipes. Most of the styles we have in stock varies from classics to special editions or in other words traditional next to original shapes with horn, silver or acrylic accents. Because of the fact that the choice is made by ourselves in the factory at Saint-Claude, we pay special attention to the quality of the briar and the beauty of the grain. A choice of over fifty shapes is offered, the prices are absolutely reasonable: from 40 to 200 Euros.