James Upshall Old England Magnum Dublin w/ Silver Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

James Upshall was, along with Ferndown and Ashton, part of a new wave of British hand-made, high-grade pipes in the late 20th century, with their founders largely coming from previous positions in the factories of companies such as Dunhill and Charatan. James Upshall was founded in 1978 by Barry Jones and Ken Barnes, both of whom had previously worked for Charatan and who had worked their way up to being carvers Charatan’s higher-end, non-standard shapes. Jones and Barnes’ pipes quickly grew to being something of a status symbol, and were enjoyed by King Hussein of Jordan, Anwar Sadat, Bing Crosby, Yul Brynner, Robert Wagner and Tom Selleck. The company also made house-brand pipes for Astleys in London. Sadly, James Upshall pipes are no longer made, but their reputation as some of the finest handmade British pipes lives on.

I’m a big proponent of the idea that all James Upshall pipes are high-grades. Even the humble Tilshead, one of which is firmly in my rotation, dwarfs the quality of many of the English pipes being made contemporaneously. But some high-grades are more high-grades than others, as the saying goes. After the Tilsheads, the rusticated and sandblasted pipes, and the S, A, and P grade Upshalls, came pipes which were even more impressive in their construction and graining. Here we find the B grades, the G grades, and so on, and we also find the Empire series. Cut from especially good blocks of briar, the Empire Series were James Upshall’s rare, magnum-sized offerings, turned by master pipe-maker Barry Jones. This one, a Tradition grade, is an especially Charatan-esque, broad-brimmed cherrywood Dublin hybrid, with exactly the kind of straight grain to be expected from someone who used to turn the Lane era high-grades. Unlike Charatan pipes, however, this one has a hand cut cumberland stem, along with a silver collar, mounted by Les Wood of Ferndown.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating.

 

Details:

Length: 8″ / 203.2mm

Bowl Width: 0.97 / 24.63mm

Bowl Depth: 2.04″ / 51.81mm

Weight: 3.4oz / 98g