Extending the Heritage: Genod Pipes

Sebastien Beaud continues the legacy of one of the world’s oldest pipe companies.

While Sebastien Beaud is fast approaching his 20th year as a pipemaker, the company he owns—Genod Pipes—can trace its history almost as far back as the time when briar was first used to make pipes. The briar revolution in pipemaking began in the middle of the 19th century in Saint-Claude, France—a town nestled in the Jura Mountains near the Swiss border that had become a famous center for producing wooden articles.

The pipe workshop now known as Genod was established in 1865 by Henri Comoy to produce pipes for the English market. In 1923, Georges Vincent-Genod took over the company, and 16 years later his son-in-law, Jean Craen, joined the business. In 1959, Jean’s son, Jacques Craen, joined the company at age 15. Jacques was able to expand the business despite a shrinking pipe market. He opened the family workshop’s doors to tourists who visited to learn how pipes are made. He also established a new brand named Genod in 1970 to honor his grandfather, and he opened a retail store in town. Jacques ran the company and made pipes for almost 50 years, but as the new millennium dawned, he started to think about retiring to focus on the retail shop. The only problem was finding someone suitable to take over the business.

A Young Man with an Old Soul
Now 37 years old, Sebastien Beaud recalls becoming fascinated with sculpture and woodworking as a young man. He became especially enamored with pipes and began carving them for himself. On a holiday from school, where he was studying forest management and fine arts, Beaud traveled to Saint-Claude to visit the town that pipes made famous. He toured the workshop of Roger Vincent—an accomplished pipe carver who specialized in making figural pipes with motifs such as Margaret Thatcher, Winston Churchill, Native Americans, buffalo, French politicians and celebrities.

After a conversation with Vincent, Beaud became inspired to become a pipemaker himself. Throughout the rest of his formal education, Beaud spent every holiday in Saint-Claude. On one of these trips, he met Jacques, who offered him a job at the store. After working for Jacques during two summer vacations, Beaud realized that he had found his calling. Upon graduation in 2003, Beaud moved to Saint-Claude and started working part time at Jacques’ store while also accepting work at the Ewa pipe factory to begin his pipemaking career. Three years later, Beaud’s ability as a pipemaker had grown to a point that Jacques asked if he would be interested in taking over the factory. Beaud jumped at the chance.

“Jacques’ offer to take over the workshop was just the achievement of a slow process, the transition coming naturally as the result of a relationship made of trust and understanding,” Beaud explains. “This offer actually made me realize that my view about pipes had evolved through the years, and that instead of making pieces of art for people to talk about, I wanted to create good smoking tools.”

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