Lane Era Charatan’s Make Distinction Extra Large Panel Dublin Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

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.

Well, this is a rare treat: a Charatan freehand from the make’s renowned “Lane era” that happens to be completely unsmoked. I’m not sure what else I could say to do it justice, but I’ll provide a little historical background. Charatan is one of the oldest extant English pipe makes and, in their early decades, created high-quality pipes using the established factory methods of the time. In the late 1950s, however, a workshop was set up within the factory for making non-standard designs that were instead shaped by hand. This was the birth of the Charatan freehand, with production beginning under Reuben Charatan’s ownership and reaching what is widely considered to be its apex once Herman Lane, of Lane Ltd, bought the company around 1960. Judging by the stamping, this pipe will have been made during the “first Lane era” of 1961-1965, which are also widely considered to have been the best of the Lane years. The design is very much a freehand in the English, rather than Danish, mold, staying fairly close to convention while also creating something highly distinct—if you’ll excuse the pun. It is a bent Dublin after all, but one with a unique octagonal panel shaping to its bowl, along with plenty of flame grain and bird’s-eye patterns. It is also an Extra Large model, though not an unwieldy one by any measure.

-J.M.

 

The pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. The stem shows some residual oxidation but nothing major. It also comes with its original box, which is, understandably, a little time-worn.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.80 / 20.32mm

Bowl Depth: 1.79″ / 45.46mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 54g