James Upshall Empire Ambassador Smooth Spiral Dublin 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.

Recently we’ve had a few James Upshall pipes come in from a large collection. This included a few Empire Series pipes, which were the workshop’s magnum sized offerings. If we recall the grading system for those pipes: the Acclaim were magnum sized Bark or sandblast pipes; the Tradition were magnum A grades; and the Old England were magnum P grades. This particular pipe is an Empire Series Ambassador, which was a magnum sized G grade. The G grade itself already indicated a very special pipe, being part of the some of the highest-end output of the James Upshall workshop. It was, according to Kennedy Barnes’ account, roughly equivalent to the Charatan Selected Supreme grade—and presumably by extension, those from his time at Charatan during its celebrated Lane era. Upshall’s Ambassador pipes were that, but much bigger. This one is an extraordinary specimen, combining tight, straight grain with a freehand spiral carving, creating a sort of “weaving” effect of matter and form. It also has a hand cut cumberland stem, which is a real cherry on top.

The pipe is also completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. It comes with its original sleeve, too.

 

Details:

Length: 8″ / 203.2mm

Bowl Width: 0.92 / 23.36mm

Bowl Depth: 1.64″ / 41.65mm

Weight: 3.0oz / 86g