Tilshead by James Upshall Smooth Stack Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

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. While James Upshall pipes are no longer made, their reputation as some of the best British handmade pipes lives on.

Tilshead was the name given to entry-level smooth-finished pipes made by Barnes, Jones, & co. at James Upshall. According to the old (now defunct) JU website, these pipes were priced the same as the make’s sandblasted pipes, with the only thing separating them from, say, a P or S grade being a slight cosmetic imperfection somewhere in the briar. Having given this one a good look over, I couldn’t find any imperfections of the sort, but James Upshall did have remarkably high standards (reminiscent of the early Sasieni ouput), so that’ll likely be part of it. Anyway, it is a gorgeous pipe, with a tall, stack-like bowl that shows off plenty of straight grain, and a vulcanite saddle stem.

The condition is great. The rim shows some wear, with some darkening and slight finish fading, but nothing major.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.88 / 22.35mm

Bowl Depth: 1.95″ / 49.53mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 56g