Ben Wade Chesham 56 Smooth Diamond Shank Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

Ben Wade was founded, as might be expected, by Leeds-based English pipe merchant Benjamin Wade in 1860. Soon after, Wade opened his own workshop to produce quintessentially British pipes. As one of the first makes to create pipes from briar, Ben Wade has a special place in pipe history, one only made more special by the famously high-quality of their output.

How strange, this Ben Wade looks like a Charatan—more specifically, it looks like a Charatan shape 489. There is a reason for everything, and I suspect that the reason this Ben Wade looks like a Charatan pipe is simply because it is. After all, Ben Wade was acquired by Lane Ltd in the early 1960s, around the same time that Lane acquired Charatan. This gave us the celebrated Lane era of Charatan pipes, but it also gave Ben Wade a new life as a Charatan sub-brand (as well as a Preben Holm outlet, but that’s a story for another listing). So, if I’m right in my estimation, this should be a Charatan 489 that Lane decided would be better off as a Ben Wade. The shape itself is great—one of my favorites from Charatan—being a diamond shank bent billiard, or pot. A subtle hybrid, if you will.

-J.M.

The condition is very good. A few slight handling marks, but nothing major.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.81 / 20.57mm

Bowl Depth: 1.43″ / 36.32mm

Weight: 2.0oz / 58g