James Upshall Smooth Cutty 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 very best handmade British pipes lives on.

When this James Upshall landed on my desk, I was intrigued. The shape is not one that I’m used to seeing from the workshop—which is saying something, as they famously didn’t have set shape charts—which tended to lean towards classic Dublin, billiard, bulldog/Rhodesian and Charatan-style freehands. This, on the other hand, I’d categorize as a particularly muscular, yet nonetheless very elegant, cutty (or Zulu, depending on where the line is drawn between the two). But when I was inspecting it, I remembered something quite pertinent. Shortly before he passed, Ken Barnes was asked who his favorite pipe-maker was, and the answer was a very surprising one: the German-born, but naturalized Danish, artisan Ingo Garbe. I wonder whether Garbe’s proclivity toward larger, stouter, and yet more rounded and organic reinterpretations of traditional shapes had some influence on the design of this Upshall. It’s unlikely that we’ll ever know, but I have my suspicions. As for the pipe’s other properties, it is a simply gorgeous piece, with perfectly aligned straight grain despite its considerable size and the difficulties of pulling that off. Grade A, group 6, great.

-J.M.

 

This Upshall is also completely unsmoked, and comes with its original sleeve. The box for display purposes only.

 

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.80 / 20.32mm

Bowl Depth: 1.66″ / 42.16mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 54g