James Upshall Grade A Group 6 Smooth Panel 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 hand-turned British pipes lives on.

I’ve always said that you can see the vestiges of Charatan’s best years in James Upshall pipes. But I’m not alone in that—Pete Siegel, James Upshall’s first US importer, coined the tagline “The Tradition Continues…” specifically because, in his eyes, James Upshall was the true inheritor of the Charatan legacy, following its various changes in ownership in the late 1970s. This James Upshall A Grade features the familiar, long, diamond shank and stem that was a hallmark of Charatan’s standard shapes and freehands, which Barry Jones will have had locked into his muscle memory (alongside carving fantastic Dublin shapes, of course). Its design goes a little further leftfield, however, incorporating an eight-sided panel bowl more reminiscent of a foursquare, which it uses to further foreground its flame grain patterning.

This pipe is completely unsmoked.

 

Details:

Length: 6.4″ / 162.5mm

Bowl Width: 0.86 / 21.84mm

Bowl Depth: 1.69″ / 42.92mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 54g