Charatan’s Make First Lane Era (1961-5) Special Extra Large Smooth Zulu 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 (later of Dunhill, then Sasieni fame), Stan Haney (later of Ashby Hall), Dennis Marshall (later of Milville), and Ken Barnes and Barry Jones (later of James Upshall).

While Charatan remains famous for its straight grain pipes, there was still a place within the make’s grading schemes for other kinds of beautiful briar patterns. The Special was one such grade which, during the legendary Lane era (to which this pipe belongs), boasted “Perfection in graining in a natural finish.” Sometimes this was superior cross-grain, sometimes bird’s-eye, and sometimes flame grain. In the case of this one, I’m a little stumped as to why it didn’t attain at least an Executive grade, as the grain looks beautifully straight to me. Either way, the shaping is also gorgeous, taking the form of an especially large Zulu—in fact, one that is not too far off the classic “61” Huntsman catalog shape from Reuben Charatan’s time at the helm. As for when this Special was made, though I did not note a Lane Ltd. “L” stamp on the bowl, the “MADE BY HAND” stamp (without any mention of the City of London), along with Lane’s proprietary Double Comfort mouthpiece, would indicate this pipe as being from the first Lane era of 1961-5. It’s held up exceeding well.

The condition is very good. Some inner rim darkening and chamber slightly over-reamed at the top lip, and a couple of very small nicks in the base of the bowl, but nonetheless remarkably preserved.

Details:

Length: 7.8″ / 198.1mm

Bowl Width: 1.07 / 27.17mm

Bowl Depth: 1.62″ / 41.14mm

Weight: 2.3oz / 66g