Charatan’s Make Belvedere Free Shape 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, and Ken Barnes and Barry Jones of James Upshall fame.

Charatan’s “Free Shape” pipes are quite rare. As far as designs went, they were somewhere between a standard Charatan and a freehand, but did not technically belong to either category. Unlike standard Charatan pipes, they were not made in accordance with the factory’s house shape charts; unlike Charatan freehands, they were not shaped by hand. Instead, they were machine-turned pipes of a non-standard shape, hence the “Free Shape” nomenclature and their lack of reference to manufacture “by hand.” This one is a beautifully grained, extra large stacked billiard, which makes me surprised that it wasn’t graded higher than a Belvedere. Then again, Charatan always did have very high standards.

The condition is fair. Some charring and scratches on the rim, some handling marks, and a slightly over-buffed stem.

Details:

Length: 7.5″ / 190.5mma

Bowl Width: 0.94 / 23.87mm

Bowl Depth: 2.25″ / 57.15mm

Weight: 2.5oz / 72g