Charatan’s Make Distinction Deluxe Extra Large Briar Pipe, English Estates [SOLD OUT]

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.

As evinced by the encircled ‘L’ stamp on the shank and its double comfort stem, this Charatan is from the Lane era, which may consider to have been its best. I have to say, this particular piece is testament to that collective sentiment, as the ‘vase’ shape of the bowl has been flawlessly executed in a way that makes the underlying briar grain absolutely sing. The sides of the bow feature a practically perfect 360 degrees of vertical straight and flame grain, while the rim swims with birds-eyes. As indicated, this is one of Charatan’s extra large offerings, but it is not so large as to be unwieldy, nor is it unreasonably heavy. It’s also in a remarkably good condition too.

 

Details:

Length: 6.5″

Bowl Width: 24.0mm

Bowl Depth: 2″

Weight: 2.3oz / 68g