Charatan’s Make Executive Extra Large Smooth Freehand 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).

As far as English pipes go, Charatan was a true pioneer, and in more than one sense. Both Frederick Charatan and his son (and eventual sucessor) Reuben Charatan were early proponents of straight grained pipes as the pinnacle of the craft, and it was under Reuben’s tenure that Charatan opened up England’s first, dedicated freehand workshop at the end of the 1950s. When Herman Lane entered the picture, he took these aspects of the Charatan make and amplified them like never before, with Charatan pipes ultimately becoming some of the most prestigious (and expensive) briars in the world. Even more impressive is that Charatan was able to do this amidst a surge in demand for Danish pipes, especially the freehand variety.

The Executive was one of Charatan’s straight grain grades, one which was introduced around the 1950s, during the late “Reuben era,” and which remained a fixture in the make’s output until at least the late 20th century. This one looks to have been made back when Dunhill owned the Charatan name, though its shaping leans into a genre that was pioneered several decades earlier, the “Cup and Saucer.” The Cup and Saucer was another 1950s creation, and originally came into being by sheer happenstance, when a young Barry Jones was tinkering with a pit-ridden stummel from the rejects box to see if he could slough off its flawed sections and still have a pipe left at the end of it. The result was a pipe whose upper bowl appeared to “sit” upon its protruding lower part, hence the name.

The condition is fair. Some rim darkening, minor scratches around the bowl, and what looks to be a professionally made replacement stem.

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 1.04 / 26.41mm

Bowl Depth: 1.46″ / 37.08mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 62g