JEAN MASSON (Ma Colombe)

France, 1970-80s

We have already featured many pipe makers on our website who came to the art of pipe-making from what were, at times, completely unexpected fields of human endeavour — engineers, diplomats, and military personnel. French welder Jean Masson took up woodworking in his thirties; in 1971, he took over the Jules Guichon pipe workshop, from whom he received his first lessons in crafting classic shapes, whilst Denis Vincent taught him the finer points of sculptural carving.

At the height of his career, the master craftsman produced up to 1,000 pipes a year in classic shapes and freehands, using high-quality Moroccan briar, often with plateau and typically featuring fine vertical grain; however, his most popular pieces are his sculpted pipes depicting famous figures, including Serge Gainsbourg, Cyrano de Bergerac, Prince Charles, President Kennedy, and even Vladimir Lenin for the more adventurous customers. The process began with a lengthy study of the chosen character, followed by up to 100 hours spent crafting the model. The finished model was placed in a pantograph alongside two blanks, and as the craftsman guided a probe along the model, the machine carved out copies of it. Of course, the fine details and facial features were then added by hand.

Another source of pride for the master is his own patented condensate collection system; we found the relevant diagram in a detailed article about Jean Masson on fumeursdepipe.net.

We would classify today’s pipe as belonging to the master’s early period: it is not yet a sculptural portrait, but the carving is already very fine, and the logo is present on the mouthpiece, while the bowl is marked simply with “St. Claude”, without any further details.

Pipe markings: “ST. CLAUDE”
Length 13.8 cm (5.43″)
Bowl height 4.2 cm (1.65″)
Outside diameter 3.7 cm (1.46″)
Chamber diameter 1.8 cm (0.71″)
Chamber depth 3.1 cm (1.22″)
Weight 38 g

Briar, vulcanite stem, no filter.

The pipe has been thoroughly cleaned, polished, sanitised, and is now ready for a new life.