Reuben Era Charatan’s Make 42 Large Sandblasted Billiard 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.

Though it has Lane Ltd’s famous “L” stamp, this is not in fact a “Lane era” Charatan as is commonly understood. Instead, it is a little older than that. The Lane era began in 1961, when Lane Ltd, under Herman Lane, acquired Charatan from the Charatan family, headed by Reuben Charatan. Lane did, however, import Charatan pipes into the United States from 1955 onward, with these pipes designated by the Lane stamp. This pipe would be a Reuben era Charatan, made some time between 1955 and 1960, which is evinced by the style of its nomenclature, the lack of a Double Comfort stem (Lane’s proprietary saddle), and the lack of an “X” after the shape code, 42, used during the Lane era (and subsequent eras) to mark non-Double Comfort pipes. The pipe itself is very interesting. It’s one of the largest pre-Lane Charatans I’ve come across, with its stature being reminiscent of Dunhill’s OD “semi-giants,” such as the 835. I suspect this will be quite attractive to Charatan collectors, or indeed anyone that enjoys a good, long, smoke.

-J.M.The condition is very good. Some darkening on the inner rim and minor residual oxidation on the stem.

 

Details:

Length: 7″ / 177.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.97 / 24.63mm

Bowl Depth: 2.03″ / 51.56mm

Weight: 3.1oz / 90g