Charatan’s Make First Lane Era (c. 1961-5) Executive Extra Large Smooth Footed 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 (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 pipe makers the world over today extol the virtues of a “straight grain” pipe, the idea that such a patterning of the briar is something special, prestigious, and valuable is not as old as one might think. While briar pipes have been manufactured for approximately two centuries, it is only in the last 100 years or so that widespread regard for straight grain in that manufacture would emerge. And a significant contributor to the latter were the pipes of F. Charatan & Son. More specifically, Reuben Charatan, the second-generation owner and manager of the Charatan family firm was a very vocal proponent of straight grain pipes as aesthetically and practically superior to others, and indeed was so strict about the standard to which a properly “straight grain” pipe must adhere that, for most of his time at Charatan’s helm, only he was permitted to turn the bowls for its straight grain pipes. In the late 1950s, this would begin to change, with the creation of the Charatan freehand workshop, staffed by Reuben’s protégés; in the early 1960s, after Reuben’s passing and the acquisition of F. Charatan & Son by Herman Lane, with the freehand workshop taking the “straight grain pipe” to heights even Reuben could not have conceived of.

This particular Charatan comes from the “first Lane era” of Charatan history, i.e., the years between approximately 1961 and 1965, during which Charatan’s freehands workshop was propelled into a genuinely worldwide renown. A tall, slightly freeform, “footed,” or even “surfing” Dublin, there’s more than a little of the famous Charatan “cup and saucer” motif to it, but also something of the Danish “walrus” shapes of carvers like Sven Knudsen.

The condition is good. Some inner rim charring, slight finish fading, and a few handling marks.

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.90 / 22.86mm

Bowl Depth: 2.07″ / 52.57mm

Weight: 2.3oz / 66g