International Selection by Charatan Sandblasted Liverpool Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

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. International Selection is one of the makes Charatan used as a sub-brand.

Along with the Canadian, the Liverpool is one of my all-time favorite traditional pipe shapes. Part of it is the functionalist in me: it’s simple, easy to handle, and a shorter stem means much less in the way of maintenance. Additionally, they’re often very lightweight, as this one one is, making them easy clenchers.

The condition is very good. There’s some residual oxidation, and some finish fading on the outer rim, but these are cosmetic imperfections that won’t impact the pipe’s smoking properties.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.75 / 19.05mm

Bowl Depth: 1.3″ / 33.02mm

Weight: 1.0oz / 30g