Charatan’s Make After Hours Distinction Extra Large 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 (who went on to work at Dunhill, before leaving again to start the Sasieni make), Dan Tennison, Stan Haney (later of Ashby Hall), and Ken Barnes and Barry Jones (later of James Upshall).

Charatan’s After Hours series is a fascinating one. The shape and style of these pipes varied wildly, with the one common feature being a yellow shank extension made from materials such as Bakelite and acrylic. The purpose this extension was the same in each case, however: to rescue a stummel in which was discovered, at some stage in its manufacture, a natural flaw in the shank. The afflicted shank section was cut off and discarded and the bowl was fitted with one of the aforementioned extensions, giving rise to the After Hours.
After hours developed into a series in which one could find all sorts of finishes and grades within Charatan’s portfolio. From the sandblasted Relief, to the mid-range, golden contrast Perfection, to the high-end, Straight Grains, such as the Executive. As with the latter, this one belongs to that Straight Grain bracket, being an After Hours Distinction grade. Sitting just below the Executive in Charatan’s system, the Distinction was defined both by its superior straight grain and the two-tone contrast stain used to accentuate that natural property (in this way, “Distinction” had a double meaning). This one also happens to be an Extra Large size, adding a further premium to an already very special pipe.

The condition is great. Some very slight charring on the innermost rim.

 

Details:

Length: 7.5″ / 190.5mm

Bowl Width: 1.00 / 25.40mm

Bowl Depth: 2.10″ / 53.34mm

Weight: 3.6oz / 104g