Charatan’s Make First Lane Era (1961-65) Executive X Extra Large Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

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.

During the 1960s, Charatan is reported to have been the first pipe company to have sold pipes exceeding $100. This may not seem like much, though, when adjusted for inflation, that would be over $1000 today. By 1970, Charatan’s most popular pipes were, as Herman Lane revealed in an interview, sold from anywhere between $25 and $300, which would similarly be between $200 and $2600 in in 2025. In fact, the highest-priced individual Charatans (i.e., not including sets) in 1970 were $1500 apiece—again, around $13,000, adjusted for inflation. How was it possible that a company that was relatively unknown outside of England in the 1950s could achieve such heights within the span of a couple of decades? Part of it was Herman Lane’s involvement with F. Charatan & Son, which began first as exclusive rights to US distribution in 1955, before Lane’s outright acquisition of the company in the early 1960s. Lane was a businessman of the highest caliber, putting a lot of work (and money) into making sure that his customers knew just how good Charatan pipes were. But all of this would have been for nothing if the pipes didn’t match the expectations Lane tirelessly cultivated and, thankfully, Lane did indeed have some of the best pipe makers in the world in his partnership, and then employ. At nearly 8 inches in length alone, this freehand is the largest from the make to have ever graced MBSD Pipes with its presence. In fact, length is hardly an adequate metric for this magnum, as it is built like a golf driver, with a genuinely towering, broad-sided bowl. It rightly earns its Extra Large designation, though compared to other Charatans of that size, this nomenclature would seem to be an understatement. As an Executive, it belonged to Charatan’s famous Straight Grain grades, something all the more impressive given the pipe’s size. As anyone who has worked with briar will tell you, the larger the stummel, the more chance there is that a sandspot, pit, or other flaw (cosmetic or structural) will be discovered as it is carved. At best, one can keep carving in the hope that the flaw will be small enough to work around, or one can sandblast the stummel instead; at worst, the flaw will be so deep it disqualifies the stummel entirely. The block that became this one made it through the gauntlet with around 4.5 ounces of briar left, which is quite reamarkable.

As for when this pipe was made, there are indicators that can provide a reasonable estimation. The presence of “MADE BY HAND” in block lettering was used on Charatan pipes between approximately 1958 and 1965, before being replaced with a cursive rendition of the same phrase, with the addition of “In City of London.” The inclusion of a Double Comfort stem, on the other hand indicates the pipe was made after Herman Lane purchased Charatan from the estate of the late Reuben Charatan. That narrows the dating to around 1961-1965, commonly known as the “first Lane era.” While Lane era Charatans commonly featured the Lane Limited “L” logo stamped on the bowl (which was also the case for Charatan pipes imported by Lane into the US between 1955 and 1961), this was not always the case, with Charatan historians still debating as to whether this was intentional or otherwise.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating.

Details:

Length: 7.8″ / 198.1mma

Bowl Width: 1.02 / 25.90mm

Bowl Depth: 2.07″ / 52.57mm

Weight: 4.7oz / 136g