Charatan’s Make First Lane Era (1961-65) Free Hand Relief Extra Large Sandblasted 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).

F. Charatan & Son was rather late to the sandblasting game, all things considered. In fact, when they were introduced during the Reuben Era, the blasting process itself was outsourced to a window glazing company. Ultimately, Charatan brought sandblasting in-house, and with the inauguration of its freehand workshop in the 1950s, the iconic Free Hand Relief was born. Long before any of its English or American contemporaries, and indeed long before such designs became vogue in the artisan scene, Charatan was manufacturing craggy, hand-turned re-imaginings of traditional shapes, like stout Dublin rendition—the Dublin itself being the quintessentially Charatan shape. Though it does not bear the Lane Ltd. “L” logo, the Double Comfort mouthpiece and “MADE BY HAND” script on this Charatan would indicate it as being from the venerated “First Lane era” of 1961-65, during Herman Lane’s early years at the helm of the company.

The condition is good. Minor inner rim charring and slight finish fading.

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.86 / 21.84mm

Bowl Depth: 1.98″ / 50.29mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 62g