James Upshall P Grade XL Dublin w/ Silver Spigot 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.

The “P” was the highest of James Upshall’s standard grades, notable for its excellent grain patterns. Taking its name from Charatan’s “Perfection” grade, the P was also Barry and Ken’s attempt to create their own version of the warm, walnut contrast stain used by Charatan. This P grade is a little special, however, being both an extra large (Ex:L) size and having a sterling silver spigot that was mounted for James Upshall by Les Wood, of Ferndown. When you have a bowl with as impressive straight grain as this one does, it’s understandable to want to go the extra mile.

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

 

Details:

Length: 6.4″ / 162.5mm

Bowl Width: 0.80 / 20.32mm

Bowl Depth: 1.87″ / 47.49mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 48g