Charatan’s Make Distinction Lane Era Smooth Vase Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

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.

Freehand pipes, like this one from Charatan’s renowned Lane era workshop, are often defined as pipes that don’t fit within regular shape categories. There are notable exceptions to this, however, such as the french Fleur. I would also suggest that the English vase is one of these recurring freehand shapes, with Charatan being largely responsible for popularizing it. This freehand vase, from around 1961-1965, is a great example of what this shape can be.

The condition is excellent. There’s a little rim darkening, possibly from a careless slip of the lighter here and there, but nothing major.

 

Details:

Length: 5.6″ / 142.2mm

Bowl Width: 0.80 / 20.32mm

Bowl Depth: 1.95″ / 49.53mm

Weight: 1.8oz / 52g