Charatan Mayfair 30120DC Smooth Lumberman (Estate)

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).

I find that Charatan had a real knack for long shank shapes, especially from the 1960s onward. One could argue that this was related to the introduction of Lane Ltd.’s proprietary Double Comfort mouthpiece in the 1960s, and the productive constraints it put upon the make’s carvers, though it may simply be that Charatan perfected the proportions and contours of such shapes early on, and never quite forgot them. This one is a group 3 rendition of Charatan’s “0120” “Large Lumberman,” and wears a simple, light brown finish over a bird’s-eye forward cross-cut.

The condition is good. Some wear to the rim and slight handling marks.

Details:

Length: 5.9″ / 149.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.82 / 20.82mm

Bowl Depth: 1.64″ / 41.65mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 42g