Charatan’s Make First Lane Era (c. 1961-1965 Distinction Extra Large 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), Dennis Marshall (previously of Barling, later of Milville), Dan Tennison, Stan Haney (later of Ashby Hall), and Ken Barnes and Barry Jones (later of James Upshall).

The “Distinction” was one of the grades awarded to straight grain pipes from Charatan’s freehand workshop. That is in part why these pipes were awarded such a lofty title. But there was another reason for choosing that word in particular: the pipe’s finish. “Distinction” grade pipes were dressed in two distinct stains which gave the underlying grain an even more prominent appearance. For a good old English pipe, a contrast stain like the Distinction’s was particularly good at highlighting the subtler aspects of expert craftsmanship; for a pipe like this one, on the other hand, the result was positively stratospheric. Charatan’s freehand workshop was world-renowned in its time, producing some of the few pipes not made in Denmark that could rival their counterparts across the North Sea. The carving demonstrated by this one is genuinely virtuosic, making sold briar appear as malleable as crushed velvet. Based on the “MADE BY HAND” and Lane Ltd. “L” nomenclature, as well as the proprietary Double Comfort stem, I’d estimate this pipe to have been made during the first Lane era, i.e., around 1961-65, which is no wonder. That was the decade, after all, when Charatan went from a highly respected British make to a worldwide sensation.

The condition is fair. Some darkening and scratches on the rim, chamber slightly over-reamed, and some minor, residual oxidation on the stem.

Details:

Length: 7.1″ / 180.3mm

Bowl Width: 1.03 / 26.16mm

Bowl Depth: 1.67″ / 42.41mm

Weight: 2.8oz / 82g