Charatans Make Distinction Extra Large Lane Era Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates [SOLD OUT]

Description

While Dunhill may be Britain’s most famous pipe brand, Charatan is not only older, but has the honor of being the first to have made its pipes entirely in-house. ‘Charatan’s Make’ referred to the fact that, at a time when other pipe companies were sourcing stummels and stems carved from other companies before assembling them in their factories and workshops, Charatan made every part of their pipes on the Charatan premises. So began a legacy of high-quality pipe-making under the Charatan name, one whose employees, at one time or another, included Joel Sasieni, and Ken Barnes and Barry Jones of James Upshall fame.

It’s always fun researching Charatans. After the fourth or fifth site, you start to get an idea of the era in which a particular example was produced. This Lane era Charatan has the Lane ‘double comfort’ stem and is stamped with “Made by Hand in City of London” in a fancy cursive script, which tells us it was made some time between late 1965 and 1979. This is great news, as this was what is often regarded as the brand’s golden age – and looking at this pipe, one can see why. It is somewhat like a cavalier, with the bowl suspended above a ‘foot’ trailing off below. It’s also got some absolutely fantastic grain – straight and flame around the bowl, and bird’s-eye on top – which is emphasized by what looks to be an early example of a contrast stain. As the nomenclature also indicates, it’s an extra large pipe, but one whose foot will allow it to prop up and rest on a flat surface when needs be.

 

Details:

Length: 6.7″

Bowl Width: 23.1mm

Bowl Depth: 1.75″

Weight: 3.6oz / 103g