Charatan’s Make Distinction Smooth Cup and Saucer 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.

As far as Ken Barnes’ account went, the very first “freehand” shape produced at Charatan was made by a very young Barry Jones, who did so simply on a whim, rather than ever being told to. As the story goes, Jones was on his lunch break and was casually examining stummels that had been consigned to the “rejects” bin—i.e., briar that had been shaped to fit Charatan’s catalog of standard designs, but which had to be abandoned due to the discovery of significant flaws in the wood. Upon picking up a large stummel laden with sandpits (presumed to have been for a shape 44 “Giant Bent”), Jones got the idea to try to sand away the affected parts of the briar and see what he was left with. What he was left with was a stummel with much of its upper bowl intact, but whose base had been mostly shorn away, creating something that looked like a “cup” resting on a “saucer.” Jones’ colleagues encouraged him to finish the pipe, which he did with help from Joan Nicholson, one of his seniors. When then-owner and foreman Reuben Charatan saw the pipe, instead of being angry at Jones for insubordination, he was impressed. When Charatan took the pipe to the company’s nearby storefront, the manager there was equally impressed, asking for a dozen of them. Over the years, the “Cup and Saucer” remained a recurrent motif in the pipes put out by Charatan’s quickly established freehand workshop, so long as briar permitted. This rendition is dressed in the workshop’s Distinction finish, a contrast stain used for straight grain briars.

The condition is fair. Some Rim darkening and inner rim charring, and slight handling marks.

 

Details:

Length: 6.4″ / 162.5mm

Bowl Width: 0.90 / 22.86mm

Bowl Depth: 1.73″ / 43.94mm

Weight: 1.8oz / 52g