Charatan’s Make 48X Sandblasted Straight Pot 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.

Collectors of Charatan pipes have their preferences for which “era” of the make’s history was or is its best. From my experience, it is the Lane era (1961-77) that has the largest contingent of fans. And it’s hard to argue with those fans; the pipes made during Lane Ltd’s ownership of the make are excellent, in both their aesthetic and functional properties. But, there is another era of pipes that Charatan collectors prize, and there’s one particular reason they prize these pipes that is relevant regarding this one. The other era I’m talking about is the Reuben era, and the one particular reason (among several) for preferring Reuben era Charatans that I’m talking about is the sandblasting. Reuben era Charatans were craggy. They were deep, rugged, and ring grained. I mention this because, when I first saw this pipe, my first thought was “oh, that’s a Reuben era pipe,” because it doesn’t have Lane’s proprietary double-comfort stem, and because the sandblast is really gnarly. But, upon closer inspection, I realized that it is actually a “first Lane era” (1961-65) pipe, with the shape code “48X” – meaning, shape 48, without a double-comfort stem. So, I guess if you’re looking for a Lane era Charatan with a sandblast that could pass for a Reuben, this might just be your pipe.

The condition is great. There’s a touch of rim darkening and overbuffing on the back rim, but nothing major by any stretch.

 

Details:

Length: 5″ / 127.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.87 / 22.09mm

Bowl Depth: 1.4″ / 35.56mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 40g