Charatan’s Make (c. 1958-65) After Hours Belvedere Extra Large Smooth Billiard 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. As chance would have it, the After Hours ultimately became particularly collectible as far as Charatans go, which I suppose is a good lesson about not letting things go to waste.

This one is an Extra Large Belvedere grade, taking the form of a sizeable, hand-turned billiard. The nomenclature indicates that it was made prior to 1965, prior to the end of the first Lane era (1961-65), though it is possible that the pipe was made during the late Reuben era (c. 1958-61), with Lane Ltd. simply handling the distribution. Charatan pipes are typically quite easy to isolate within a single era, though there are edge cases, especially when it comes to the company’s freehands.

The condition is good. Some wear to the rim, slight finish fading, and a couple of small, superficial nicks in the bowl exterior.

Details:

Length: 7.2″ / 182.8mm

Bowl Width: 1.06 / 26.92mm

Bowl Depth: 2.05″ / 52.07mm

Weight: 3.3oz / 96g