Charatan’s Make Free Hand Relief Sandblasted Dublin 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.

While Sixten Ivarsson and co. were pioneering freehand shapes in Denmark, across the North Sea, the expert British pipe-makers at Charatan were experimenting with freehand pipes of their own. As Ken Barnes tells it, Barry Jones (later of James Upshall) carved the first Charatan freehand-style pipe in 1958. When Reuben Charatan himself saw the pipes, he, per Barnes, “he immediately changed from his factory overalls into his suit” so that he could take them to Charatan’s London storefront. As can be seen with this one, English “freehands” were often a lot more conservative than Danish ones, using the technique to play with conventions in subtle ways. The “Relief” designation on this one is its sandblast, which shows a clear mastery of bringing out the briar’s ring grain.

Now, I’m not sure whether this is a Reuben era Charatan that was imported into the US by Lane Ltd (normally 1910-1960, but in this case, 1958-1960), or a Lane Ltd Charatan, from after Lane acquired the company from the Charatan family. This factors into the condition, which is very good, with some inner rim darkening and some handling marks/finish fading on the stummel – but if it is a Lane era Charatan then the stem may be a replacement, as it is not in the typical Lane Double Comfort style. I’ve priced the pipe to reflect this uncertainty.

 

Details:

Length: 6.4″ / 162.5mm

Bowl Width: 0.93 / 23.62mm

Bowl Depth: 1.52″ / 38.60mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 54g