Charatan’s Make (c.1977-79) Supreme S Extra Large Smooth Dublin 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).

In the first half of the 20th century, F. Charatan & Son established itself as manufacturer of some of the finest briar pipes around, and a significant part of this came down to their graining. Reuben Charatan was an early champion of the “straight grain” pipe, and the highest-grade Charatan pipes during this period were given the lofty title of the “Supreme.” The Supreme remained the highest award within Charatan’s grading system until the 1950s and, after Reuben’s passing around 1960, this system was expanded further under the new ownership of Herman Lane and Lane Ltd. Rather than a watering-down of established Charatan grades, this reflected a workshop whose output had advanced to the point that it surpassed even Reuben’s exacting standards, and thus new grades had to be introduced to reflect the ever-greater achievements of Charatan’s bowl turners and freehand carvers.

The “Supreme S” was the first rung above the Supreme in the expanded system. As one would expect, the pipes that received this qualification were masterful works, even in the context of a booming Danish high-grades scene. Based on the nomenclature and stem logo, this particular Supreme S looks to have been made just after Lane Ltd. sold F. Charatan & Son to Alfred Dunhill Ltd. in 1976-7, during which the premises and manufacture of Charatan pipes remained relatively unchanged from how things were during the “Lane era.” It’s a worthy representative of the grade and of Charatan’s output more generally, taking the form of a distinctive, fluted freehand Dublin, with “angel hair” straight grain lining its bowl.

The condition is very good. Chamber slightly over-reamed and some slight residual oxidation on the stem.

Details:

Length: 6.9″ / 175.2mm

Bowl Width: 1.02 / 25.90mm

Bowl Depth: 1.92″ / 48.76mm

Weight: 2.0oz / 58g